The tale of Rocks and Stones
by InsertPseudonym1028
Summary: She just wanted a friend in the sea of enemies that she was drowning in. But he's proving to be more. I am absolutely horrible at summaries. Rated T for coarse language and possibly mature themes.
1. Pumpkin Juice and Toast

**Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, but Roxanne belongs to me.**

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**_~ "Have we lost the magic that we once had?" ~_**

I walked into the Great Hall, extremely nervous, though I didn't show it. My head was held high, though not high enough to seem like I was desperately trying not to seem anxious – which I was. My experiences in Durmstrang and Beauxbatons had taught me how to seem innocent and blend in, and I had become an expert at it.

I was wearing the standard white button-down shirt, grey plaid skirt, and thin black robes, and I hadn't accessorized them with anything – unlike the other students. Just this morning, I had seen two giggling first-year girls skip around school with pink flowery jewelry on every visible body part except their faces – bracelets, necklaces, earrings, anklets, and headbands.

My hair was tied back in a loose plait, a few strands cleverly concealing my eyes. I made my way slowly and steadily to the Gryffindor table, aware of the murmuring and sudden whispering at my appearance. I made a deliberately half-hearted attempt to push the hair out of my eyes and continued, exuding confidence and defiance with every step.

I took a seat next to two identical-looking redheads – brothers, and started eating. Dumbledore smiled at me good-naturedly from the Head Table. I smiled back, but frowned slightly at the sight of Dolores Umbridge sitting close to him. Umbridge gave me a sickly, toady grin, but I turned away, and found myself face to face with one of the ginger-haired twins.

"Hi." He said, smiling. I nodded curtly and continued with my steak-and-kidney pie. I hoped that I could eat in peace, but he persisted. "I'm Fred. Fred Weasley." He stuck out a stocky hand. I sighed silently, then decided to drop the hostile act.

"Roxanne." I shook his hand, feeling calluses and blisters. I opened my mouth to comment, but then closed it. He seemed to notice, raising his eyebrows. Fred's brother glanced at me and immediately sniggered. I yanked my hand from Fred's grasp deftly, affronted.

"He wasn't laughing at you." said Fred quickly, shooting a Look at his brother.

"Oh, sure," I said snidely. Fred chuckled and shook his head.

"You sure get offended easily." he remarked.

"I'm George." the other twin said. "George-"

"Weasley, yeah, I heard." I said, impatient to eat. I continued to ignore them, determined to finish my slice of pie without further interruption. My resolution failed in the next two seconds.

"I haven't seen you before. How come?" Fred asked.

"I'm new." I said quietly, furious with myself for replying – it was a reflex.

"You don't look like a first year." Fred said laughingly.

"Well, I'm not." I said, starting on a chicken leg. "I'm a seventh year." I added.

"Me too. George as well." He said, gesturing to his brother, who was deeply in conversation with a pretty dark-skinned girl. "That's Angelina." He said, smiling at her dazedly. I smirked, and he snapped back to attention. "What?" he asked, almost defensively.

"Nothing." I said, still smiling. Fred grinned sheepishly.

"She's pretty." He said, shrugging.

"So, you like her?" I asked. I knew that I shouldn't be talking, but I felt the need to make friends. Introverts don't usually tend to fare well in school.

"Not much now, because George's sweet on her, and I reckon she feels the same way. If she thinks that George's better than me, then she's not worth it." He said, as if it was as simple as that. I couldn't help laughing.

He joined in for no reason, and George and Angelina stared at us blankly. Angelina raised her eyebrows, and I decided that I would take her chances with her. "I'm Roxanne. I'm new here." I said, holding out my hand. Angelina paused for an extremely awkward moment, then shook it.

"Angelina Johnson. Quidditch Captain. Do you play?" she said. I nodded.

"Chaser." I said, answering the unasked question. Angelina scrutinized me closely.

"You might want to try out. You have the build for a Keeper though." She said. I shrugged.

"Yeah, I get that a lot. But I don't find it fun, Keeping. I like Chasing better, and even Jones won't play a position that she doesn't like to play." I said, shrugging. Angelina grinned.

"You know a lot about Quidditch. I can tell we'll be good friends." She said warmly.

"That would be great." I said, somehow managing to not sound desperate. George inconspicuously tapped Angelina on the shoulder, and, not-as-inconspicuously, kissed her gently on the cheek. Startled, I looked at Fred. His face was impassive, but his jaw was set angrily, and his mouth twisted at an angle that told me that he was holding back a yell. Or a scream, or an expletive. Either way, I was glad it was closed. Angelina, however, giggled and blushed, bringing her shoulder up to her ear shyly.

George stole a look at Fred and sighed guiltily at his expression, and opened his mouth like he wanted to say something, but closed it again. Fred purposefully looked away, at me. "I never really caught your last name." he said, obviously trying to initiate conversation.

"I didn't say." I said, and left it at that. He seemed to think that it was a legitimate reason, but (un?) fortunately didn't stop talking.

"So, randomly joining Hogwarts for a year, Roxanne-without-a-last-name?" he asked, casting a sidelong glance at me.

"I've been to Durmstrang and Beauxbatons." I said, leaning back in my chair and paying no attention whatsoever to his nickname for me or Umbridge's stupid speech. Fred didn't seem inclined to either. "Neither worked out, honestly." I said.

"Really?" he said, grinning. "You must be the regular troublemaker." he seemed interested. I laughed derisively, though not too loud - Umbridge was still droning on, and I wanted to seem like a model student, even if I wasn't.

"You have no idea." I chuckled. He gave me a skeptical look.

"What was the last thing you pulled then, what got you expelled?" he said, one hand on his chin, facing me, and yet already looking like whatever I was going to say would be nothing compared to his endeavors. I shrugged modestly.

"Oh, nothing, just a pinch of Doxy droppings in her perfume - that reeked of the most horrible, disgusting odor, by the way, so it didn't matter - but it turns out she was allergic to the stuff, so she broke out in hives and started screaming and ended up tripping over some, er, strategically placed books and into the fireplace." I said simply. Looking at Fred's horrified expression, I laughed. "It wasn't real fire, because the Floo Powder had conveniently toppled over into the fireplace, and obviously it listened to the first words she said, which were 'water, water, quick, water'. She, erm..." I trailed off. "She..sort of ended up in the middle of the ocean." I said, suppressing my own laughter at the memory.

"Well, she obviously Apparated back, because she had her wand, didn't she?" he said more than asked, before noticing my grin. "She didn't?" he asked incredulously.

"Well, you see..." I said sheepishly. "It had been, erm, conveniently removed from her office by a certain someone who may or may not be sitting in next to you right now." I squirmed, trying to keep the smug look off of my face. "It took the Ministry a couple days to find her. She managed to stay afloat, though."

"Impressive." he said, raising his goblet in my direction.

"Ah." I joked. "A pumpkin juice toast. The greatest among toasts."

"Only given to the best of pranksters." he continued, and we fell about laughing silently.

"So, what's one of your best gags?" I asked conversationally as we stood up - Umbridge had finally stopped her useless blathering, and we were asked to leave to our dormitories. "And you'll have to lead me to Gryffindor Tower, I don't know where it is." I said, as we walked towards the Entrance Hall.

"'Course, I don't mind." he said, climbing up the steps leisurely. "Well, do you want to hear about the time I cursed my brother's teddy bear?" he asked, and before waiting for an answer, launched into the tale of the wonderful prank, that was so long and complicated (and largely exaggerated) that it took us all the way up to the seventh floor, and Gryffindor Tower.

"Mimbulus Mimbletonia." he said to a portrait of a rather large woman, and the picture swung forward on it's hinges. "It's a bit of a squeeze." he said, gesturing to the portrait hole. I shrugged and swung myself in, emerging in a cozy, comforting room with warmth emanating from the fireplace.

"Well, I'm off to pretending that I'm in bed." Fred said as he followed me out of the hole. "Your dormitory is Angelina's as well, so, erm, you can talk to her yourself, I'm guessing..." he said somewhat awkwardly. "We get our schedules in the morning, at breakfast. We'll probably have a couple of the same classes. See you in the morning then." he grinned jovially, and climbed up the stairs with a jaunty wave. I waved back, smiling, then looked around for Angelina.

"You're with me, come on." she said from behind me. I turned around and followed her, looking around at all the paintings surrounding the walls as I climbed up the staircase farthest from the portrait hole. She opened a door and I followed her into the room, where three beds lay, one looking remotely less shabby than the other two. One of the used-looking ones was occupied by a girl with tawny eyes and long, caramel-colored hair tied back in a french braid. "Right, then, Katie, this is Roxanne, Roxanne, Katie. Katie's Chaser on our team, generally average at classes, but is a dab hand at Astronomy." Angelina said, somewhat bored. "Well, I suppose that's your bed, and that's your closet next to it, unless that's not your trunk?" she asked, pointing to the dark blue trunk lying next to the bed. Without waiting for an answer, she kicked off her shoes, moaning in relief, grabbed a nightgown from her trunk, and disappeared into the bathroom.

"No, it's mine." I said, making my way over to it. Katie got out of her bed and walked up to me. I smiled at her, too. "Hello." I said cheerily.

"Hi." she said, beaming. "Katie Bell." she stuck her hand out. I shook. "Angie's lying, I'm not a dab hand at anything, much. But I like stars, I do." she said shyly.

"I prefer Potions. Creating things, y'know?" I said, shrugging. She smiled.

"Well then maybe you'll be able to help me and Angie, we're hopeless at Potions. And Transfiguration." she added thoughtfully.

"Oh, I'm horrible at Transfiguration." I laughed. Katie grinned up at me - she was quite petite, probably not more than five feet four inches, I guessed.

"Well, I'll let you get some sleep. But it's nice to meet you, Roxanne." she said, smiling again and walking back to her bed.

"You too." I said behind her. I walked up to my trunk and grabbed for my nightgown, a cream thing with owls on the hem. I preferred to change in the confines of my bed, and so I shut the hangings, and eased off my shoes, my robes, my shirt, and skirt. I slipped on the nightgown and pulled my hair tie off. But I wasn't going to sleep just yet, so I drew back the hangings. I opened my trunk fully, and then opened the empty closet, using a few Vanishing Spells to get rid of the cobwebs. I sat on my bed, where I had a good view, and started relocating, not bothering to say the spells out loud.

As I worked, my shirts, trousers, skirts, and jeans all floated into place, even fitting properly on the hangers with an extra wrist flick. I arranged my shoes in a row at the bottom of the closet, then walked into the bathroom with my bag of toiletries and the miniscule amounts of makeup that I had managed to obtain. Angelina pointed me towards a chest of drawers, allocating me the third drawer to keep all my stuff in.

I thanked her, and put my deep blue toothbrush into a mug where two others - a red one with snitches patterned all over it, and a creamy pink one with hearts - rested. I brushed my hair out, smiled reassuringly at myself in the mirror, and - finally - collapsed into bed. It was 11:47pm. I stuffed my wand - twelve inches, supple, rowan, good for pretty much anything but Transfiguration - under my pillow, slid underneath the comforter, and fell asleep.

**_~"In a foreign place, the saving grace was the feeling."~_**

I woke up the next morning, an hour before I really needed to. I set out my uniform and debated wearing my robes (no, I reasoned, it wasn't really cold), contemplated my hairstyle (a side braid was decided upon), and made my bed to reduce the house-elves' work (I had spotted one or two hovering around the tables when Fred was leading me to the Tower). I stuffed all my books in a satchel and cast an Undetectable Extension Spell on it to lighten it, and tested out the weight - only a bit back-breaking. I went into the lavatory and had a quick shower, using a Hot-Air Spell on my hair to blow-dry it. I quickly tied it up into the side braid, snapping my hair tie back on before I changed into a clean white shirt, red-and-gold Gryffindor tie, grey sweater vest,

When I came back to the dorm, Angelina was up. I said good morning, and she looked surprised that I was already ready. "You can go ahead to breakfast if you want." she said. "George and his brother get up early, they're probably in the common room. You can ask them the way." I nodded and exited the dorm, satchel in hand and wand in pocket. Fred was in the common room, concentrating on a card house, eyebrows singed.

"Bet you can't clear two feet." I murmured absentmindedly as I sat opposite him.

"Morning." he grinned. "And get four sickles ready, I bet I can make it to three." I scoffed despite myself - it was so hard to be timid and humble around Fred.

"Three is nothing. I'm taking pity on you, Fred. I've made it to five." I declared. "And it's three galleons or nothing." I said that because three galleons was all I had in my pocket. It would be nice to have six. Fred raised his eyebrows. Then he looked thoughtful.

"How do you know that I'm Fred?" he said, grinning. I shrugged.

"I've had twins as friends before. You two are actually a lot more different than you think." I said.

"In what ways?" he asked curiously.

"Well, it's not like you have trouble figuring out who you are, so you can continue to be clueless." I smiled.

"You barely talked to George, how would you know that he's any different from me?" Fred asked.

"You said it yourself." I smiled. "I didn't talk to him, so it would take him awhile to place me. You recognized me the minute I sat down." Fred shrugged.

"Fair enough."

"You're losing that bet, by the way." I said, jerking my head towards the pile of cards that was now quivering suspiciously. Fred didn't even panic, simply adding more cards as the quivering increased. With a loud bang, it exploded, and by reflex I swung under the table, avoiding the heat. When I resurfaced, my fingertips where they had gripped the table were slightly scalded, and Fred's eyebrows were virtually nonexistent.

I laughed at the sight as I healed my burns, before sending blue light accompanied by an "Episkey!" in the direction of his eyes. When it cleared, they were back to normal. "Well, I win. Three galleons, monsieur." I said, grinning and holding my hand out.

"I'm pretty sure they cleared three feet when they exploded." he grumbled, but he forked over the galleons. "I hoped it was a false alarm."

"If it's a false alarm, you won't hear the whistle." I said, referring to the pressure-cooker-like hoot that grew louder closer to the bang. It was a precious bit of information that had won me a lot of money and saved me from losing even more. "Could we go down to breakfast?" I asked. Fred nodded, blowing on the scattered cards - they automatically stacked themselves into a neat pile - and standing up.

"It's a cinch finding your way around this castle." Fred said as he swung out of the common room and I followed. "Whenever you get lost, go into the nearest classroom and tap the bottom right-hand corner with your wand seven times. It'll show you what floor you're on. And the school is basically a rectangle with a courtyard in the middle, so as long as you get to your floor, you can just walk around until you get to the right room. And you're new, so they'll make sure you have the same schedule as someone who knows the school well."

We reached the Great Hall and sat down, and I noticed that there was barely anyone about. "We're the only ones at this table." I said, surprised.

"It's only six-thirty." Fred reasoned. I raised my eyebrows, impressed. In Beauxbatons, lessons began at seven, so waking up anytime later than five-thirty was a bit of a risk, considering the queues to get to the lavatory - and at Durmstrang, we were woken up at four.

"Four." Fred said when shared that bit of information. "Four, AM." he repeated, like he was making himself believe it. "That's bloody ridiculous." He said incredulously, and I laughed at his expression.

"What's bloody ridiculous?" said another ginger-haired boy, obviously related to Fred but not as tall, and younger, as he sat down opposite us. I smiled awkwardly.

"Getting up at four AM every single morning." Fred answered, still surprised. He snapped out of it when I brushed past him to grab the platter of toast. "Oh, Ron, this is Roxanne." I flashed him another smile, this one a lot more confident. "She's in my year, she's new. Roxanne, Ron, my brother. Yes, the one with the teddy bear. Fifth year. But four AM, every bloody day?" he asked again. I laughed - again.

"Yes, Fred. And hi, Ron. It's nice to meet you." I said, sticking my hand out. He took it and shook. I let go and pushed four slices of toast towards me, before buttering them liberally and reaching for the marmalade.

"So why are you up so early?" Fred asked Ron. "Everyone knows you'll wake up at three in the afternoon if someone lets you." he grinned. Ron shrugged, somewhat uneasily.

"I just randomly woke up, then I couldn't go back to sleep." he said vaguely, dumping a tonne of sausages onto his plate. I picked one off of the serving plate and took a bite, finding it much better than the rough, still-slightly-raw beef sausages that were served for special occasions in Durmstrang. At Beauxbatons, we were only served paper-thin slices of nonfat ham with our fresh bakery bread. It was good, but far too elegant for my taste. And there was no toast, for Agrippa's sake. No toast! How was one supposed to survive without toast?

Fred, Ron, and I chatted about Quidditch (Fred and I argued that Puddlemere United beat the Chudley Cannons hands down, but Ron poutily disagreed), muggle movies (we all laughed about how dreadful the Titanic was), and the girls at Beauxbatons (this was mainly for Ron's benefit, but I obliged). I was feeling quite relaxed, but the knot of nerves in my stomach tightened and swelled when Professor McGonagall started handing out schedules an hour later, when Katie, Angelina and George had joined us and put in their views of what we had been discussing ("Puddlemere?" Angelina scoffed. "I liked Oliver, but they were thrashed by the Bats."). The schedules were on new parchment, folded into thirds, with the Hogwarts crest stamped on top and the student's name on the front.

"Go on, show us yours then." Katie said, holding her hand out. She was sitting on my left and only had a tiny portion of rice on it - barely a spoonful. I placed my schedule in her hand and accepted hers, deciding not to glance down at her plate questioningly - it really was none of my business. I skimmed over her schedule, then glanced back at mine over her shoulder. "We have all of Tuesday together!" she exclaimed happily, grinning at me as she handed me my schedule and I hers. I smiled back, only to feel someone's eyes on me.

Turning around, I saw Fred looking at me, his eyes without that mischievous sparkle that was their trademark, but a serious, brooding stare. He didn't seem to notice that I was looking back. My smile faded.I wordlessly handed him my schedule, trying to grin. He snapped out of whatever daze he was in and exchanged with me. I scanned it, a genuine smile forming on my face. I turned back to him as the realization crept across his face. "Everything. Except Tuesday, everything. Every single class." I said, in a sort of strangled voice, so glad that I wouldn't be lost and I would have a genuine friend with me in every class I had.

"Don't look so cheerful." his voice was merry and lilting, and I turned to see that the brooding look had disappeared. "Four days is enough for you to get sick of me, I grant you that." he smiled.

"It'll take a lot more than that." I breathed involuntarily, a flush creeping up my neck for no particular reason. I took back the schedule and handed him his, keeping my eyes focused on my toast. There was a delicious hazelnut-cocoa spread that just melted in my mouth, perfect for toast. Oh, and what fine toast it was. Multi-grain, with oats baked into the crust and perfectly toasted, just enough for a rusty sheen to form on both sides. Both.

And the butter! Whipped to perfection with a white gleam. There was no butter in either of my former schools - Durmstrang because it wasn't absolutely essential and therefore redundant, and Beauxbatons because it didn't qualify as 'slimming'. Quite the opposite, actually.

"Right, come on then. Herbology." Fred said, disregarding my earlier comment, even though his ears seemed pinker than usual. I nodded, polishing off my last slice (sixth, I think) and washing it down with the cold milk in my goblet - cold milk! And not the non-fat, skimmed, idiocy we sometimes got in Beauxbatons - before standing up and climbing over the bench. I followed him to a wild-looking greenhouse that was set next to three others.

"Greenhouse Four is the one that's most dangerous." he said, grinning wickedly. "Loads of things to play. But don't worry. I'll let you have a good first day. Model student and all that." he waved it away, smiling. I smiled back.

"I wouldn't mind if you pulled something, you know." I said frankly. "Might make it a little more interesting." I glanced quickly towards him and back to my dragonhide gloves (I'd managed to fit them in before breakfast, and Fred had said that you needed them for everything in Greenhouse Four), that stupid flush creeping up my neck again.I backed away as several students swarmed in just before the bell rang - a series of ominous tolls that seriously creeped me out. Durmstrang had been worse though - clanging. Lots of clanging.

"Hey Freddie!" A girl with long blonde locks and an unbearably high-pitched voice came rushing through the crowd over to him, and sauntered up to his face. For some reason, I was pleased when I noticed that he looked mildly uncomfortable.

"Hi, Linda." he said awkwardly, his smile strained. The girl stank of tantalizing perfume, and had applied more eye makeup than I had ever seen - and as a former Beauxbatons student, that was saying something. Her hair was waved to perfection, and she had on the perfect amount of cherry red lipstick and a dab of lip gloss. She was so close to him that you couldn't swing a bowtruckle between them. He took a tentative and inconspicuous step backwards, still smiling. "Linda, this is Roxanne. She's new here - our year. Roxanne, Linda. Hufflepuff Prefect."

Linda cast a small, condescending half-smile at me before turning back to Fred. "But I always let you get away with stuff, don't I?" she murmured flirtily. I held back the urge to puke.

"Right." he said frankly and quickly, moving away from her. "Well, um, I've got to pair up with Roxanne, so I'll, uh.." Her smile, directed at Fred, turned into a devilish glare, pointed at me instead.

"See you around, Fred. And erm, new girl." she flashed another grin at Fred, a smug nod at me, and weaved her way through the crowd of students, still chatting merrily about the holidays, and made her way towards a bunch of girls who seemed to be waiting for her. Fred turned to me, his face blank.

"Shall we?" he asked flatly.

"Sure." I said, giving him a fleeting smile before following him towards one of the tables. Professor Sprout entered, and thankfully acted like I was just another student when she brushed past me, although she gave me a discreet wink. I'd already been introduced to her, and I was grateful that she didn't put me up on a pedestal.

After an hour, when my hands were coated thoroughly with dragon dung ("the best fertilizer there is, really." Professor Sprout claimed.) and I smelled like I had rolled in it, we headed back up to the castle and I took another shower before I met Fred in the common room for Charms.

I had added a touch of mascara to my lashes - my friend Aimee had given it to me as an unsubtle parting gift at Beauxbatons - and unchapped my lips using some pink-tinted lip balm. Maybe Linda's appearance had made me self-conscious, or I just realized that I looked abnormally plain. Hopefully, it was the latter. But I knew that it wasn't.

"So, Charms. Any, erm, friends there?" I tried to seem nonchalant, but one look at Fred's face told me that he caught the reference.

"Linda's generally like that." he said vaguely, before climbing out of the portrait hole. I followed him, stopping to stand in front of him and raise an eyebrow.

"Like what?" I asked, expecting him to avoid the question, since it was asked softly and could be ignored amongst the chattering of nervous first-years.

"You know. Hanging around all the time, and, er..." he trailed off.

"Not leaving?" I said, a reluctant smile playing around my face.

"She's a nice person." he reasoned. "Sort of." We had reached the Charms classroom. "We have Charms with the Ravenclaws. Bloody know-it-alls, all of them. 'Wit beyond measure, man's greatest treasure, and all that." he said, rolling his eyes. I grinned. "You've met old Filius? I noticed that you and Sprout seem to be mates."

"Yeah, I met all the teachers before term started." I said, taking the seat that had appeared from seemingly nowhere the minute I entered. Fred's desk had his name written on it in Everlasting Ink, with several hearts around it - the hearts seemed to be drawn by the other girls who sat regularly at the desk. I choked back a laugh at the number of them. "Well, you're the regular heartthrob, aren't you?" I tried to say with a straight face. Fred seemed flushed and awkward, and didn't even give me an answer, just a fleeting, forced smile.

He avoided the topic for the entire lesson, and we focused mainly on the Extended Shield Charms that we were supposed to have practised over the summer. I hadn't ever learned them, but soon discovered that with Fred sitting next to me and giving me tips, I was much better than most of the Ravenclaws in the classroom, even. At the beginning of the class, I looked at the needle I was supposed to charm.

"Protego Detrudus!" I said weakly, nearly breaking my wrist when I attempted the clockwise jab that the book demanded. The jet of purple light fizzled and died before it even reached the needle. I sighed.

"Counter-clockwise jab." Fred advised.

"Why?"

"Just try it."

"Protego Detrudus!". Then, "Reducto!" to test it out. I ducked to avoid the jet of light that made a fairly-sized hole in the wall behind me.

"See?"

"But how come?"

"More natural hand movement. This textbook's barmy."

"Well, ?" that was Professor Flitwick, hobbling towards us.

"Protego Detrudus!" Fred's voice was confident and commanding, and the shield was visible, a pulsing aquamarine aura around the needle.

"Well, let's see, shall we?" Flitwick warbled. "Multicofors!" why he was trying to change the color of a needle, I'd never know. Nevertheless, it didn't work, turning Flitwick's eyebrows green instead. He undid the charm and looked expectantly at me, and I hurriedly turned to my own sewing tool.

"Protego Detrudus!" I said clearly, sharply flicking my wrist counter-clockwise. I sighed with relief when it stayed put after Flitwick's attempt to make it bigger. He shot me a satisfied grin and waddled away. I gave Fred a look of gratitude, smiling warmly, and he smiled back.

"Charms is easy once you get the hang of it." he said, shrugging. "You can have my textbook if you want. My handwriting looks like a flobberworm exploded onto the page, but I write notes on every spell." Fred didn't seem the academic type, so I raised an eyebrow questioningly. "Me and George are planning to, er, start a...a joke shop of sorts. Like Zonko's, but...better. Hopefully." he said quickly, with an air of someone who wanted to get it over with. "You can laugh now."

"I think that's a great idea." I said honestly. "So that's why you're so good at Charms?" I asked. "Because you charm normal objects into joke stuff?" Fred nodded. I smiled again. "So tell me about it. What are you planning on making?" He looked me straight in the eyes, as if to make sure that I was serious. Then he launched into a long and complicated discussion about Skiving Snackboxes, his eyes alight and his face animated. Apart from a brief pause to write down the homework ("a four foot essay on the Extended Shield Charm and its Effects, if you please!" Flitwick squeaked), the conversation lasted until we sat down in the Great Hall for lunch.

"...which we're still considering because some of the teachers still faint at the sight of too much blood." he concluded as I took a seat next to him.

"You don't mind, do you?" I asked hesitantly. He looked up, puzzled. "Me sitting next to you, I mean. I mean, I've been following you around the for three hours, I would've thought you might want to have a brea-"

"Are you kidding?" he asked, grinning. "Of course I don't mind. Honestly, that's the first time anyone's ever..." he faltered slightly. "...actually listened to me for that long." he breathed, looking at me like he was seeing me in a whole new light. "But no, I don't mind. At all, really." he continued normally. "You can sit here anytime. Prankster to prankster, right?" he asked. I nodded, smiling as I raised my goblet of pumpkin juice and clanked it against his.

"So, what about Fainting Fancies?" I asked. He looked at me suspiciously, and I paused with my fork on its way to my starving mouth.

"You really want to hear me babble about that? More?" he asked.

"Of course." I said. "I like listening to you. You're unique." I told myself to stop, but my stupid uncontrollable mouth continued. "You're not just the generic, typical juvenile jokester. You...you have a story. And I know what it's like not to have that story told." I felt like punching myself as soon as the last sentence came out of my mouth. I winced inwardly, and maybe a little outwardly as well, because the next words Fred said were much softer and lower.

"So tell me your story."

And so I did.

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**A/N: Hi guys! This is my first HP fanfic, I think it's turning out pretty well. Reviews are pumpkin muffins and cream cheese. Something everyone needs. :) Hope you liked it! Another chapter coming up soon.  
Song Credits - In The End - Snow Patrol, Only Ones Who Know - Arctic Monkeys**


	2. Rumor Has It

**.: Disclaimer :. I don't own Harry Potter, but Roxanne belongs to me.**

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_**~"I can't think 'cause I'm just way too tired."~**_

I sat with Fred, talked to Fred, just listened to Fred for the whole week. We divided doing our homework amongst each other, and we both agreed that doing two essays on a subject we both loved (Potions for me, Charms for him) was a lot less tiring than doing one we loved and one we hated. As soon as we came to the breakfast table, he would hand me the toast, and I would hand him the bacon. He had taken to calling me 'Roxy' because apparently it was less of a mouthful than Roxanne. I pointed out that they were both two syllables, but he argued that calling someone 'Rox' would sound queer. I had to agree with that.

I was starting to think that Fred was my best friend. Which was extremely weird, of course, since becoming someone's best friend after a week wasn't something that happened often, or at all. Just to be safe, I didn't mention it. But I had a warm feeling going through me when I woke up on Saturday. It was four AM - I guess Durmstrang had rubbed off on me after all. I walked into the lavatory to find...Katie.

Breathing shakily with her eyes wide and unfocused, she was huddled on the floor, her robes strewn around her. I had never noticed how thin she was. Her cheeks were hollowed, and her elbows were thin, bony, and frail. Her hair was dishevelled and she was shaking, unresponsive to my desperate screams of her name. "Angelina!" I called frantically, the name echoing on the tile floor and walls of the bathroom. I left Katie briefly to drag the Quidditch Captain out of bed, ignoring the stream of colorful profanity uttered from her mouth. I pulled her towards the bathroom, and found Katie, but worse.

She was sobbing, screaming at something that only she could see. She shied away from us, but Angelina, suddenly wide awake, gripped her shoulders. "Katie!" she yelled roughly. "Snap out of it, Katie! Get out of it, I'm here! I'm right here, stay with me!" her shouts bounced off the walls and echoed probably across the entire school, but they didn't get to Katie. "Get McGonagall!" she said sharply to me, tears streaming down her face as she continued to try and pull Katie away from whatever land she was in. I sprinted down to the common room, snagging Fred on the way - he appeared to be working on more Snackboxes - and gasping out the story to him on our way to the Transfiguration office.

Within ten minutes, we had woken her up and gotten her to the Tower and into our dormitory. "Oh dear." she said simply when she saw Katie, who had gotten worse still. Her face had been drained of any color it contained, and her eyes were more unfocused than ever. Without any sign, she suddenly collapsed.

Fred, who had evaded the enchanted staircase by climbing along the railing, came forward and closely examined her, looking at seemingly curious places, like her knuckles, and the crook of her neck. McGonagall let him, probably thinking that he had some superior knowledge as to whatever was wrong with Katie. He finally pulled away from her after checking her right eyelid, and looked seriously at the Professor.

"Manticore Hash." he said deeply. She nodded, digesting the information rather quickly, before waving her wand and lifting Katie onto the makeshift stretcher that she had conjured.

"Miss Johnson, Roxanne," she said quietly, her voice shaking. "Please accompany Miss Bell to the Hospital Wing. And give Madam Pomfrey this." she said, handing us a tightly rolled scroll that she had been writing in. I took it and silently walked next to the stretcher, turning back to take Angelina's hand - she seemed shocked into paralysis, but responded to my touch, resuming her silent sobbing as she walked on Katie's other side.

Within five minutes of us reaching the Hospital Wing, Madam Pomfrey kicked us out, but with the grim promise of doing anything to make sure she was okay. I led Angelina, still a bit shell-shocked, back to the common room when she said that she didn't want to eat anything. I locked eyes with George and he hurried over to us, and I left her in his care, walking over to Fred, who was sitting on a couch in a secluded corner of the room. "Fred, I-"

"I've tried it." he said quietly. "Only once, but I've tried it. And...I was warned about the long-term effects. So I knew." I sat down next to him, so close that our shoulders touched.

"Long-term effects." I said, unclenching my fists. "Like...this?" I breathed, showing him the knuckles of my right hand. He took it and examined them like he had Katie, looking at the tinges of green on the underside of my hand. I pulled my hand gently from his grasp and slowly unravelled the scarf I was wearing to show him the discolouration near my pulse point in the crook of my own neck, which he put his finger on tentatively to see if I minded.

"It's okay." I said softly. He felt the odd bump and the still-slightly-irregular heartbeat. He slowly took his finger away from my neck, his eyes wide. I gave him a fleeting sort of sad smile. "Durmstrang is a tough place." I reasoned, letting out a slight, mirthless laugh. "I was a daredevil. Remember when I told you that I got into some messed up stuff that I regretted?" I asked, and he nodded solemnly. "I didn't..." I trailed off, choking back a sob. "I didn't know how...how powerful it would be." I said, taking deep breaths after every few words. "I was hoping...Katie didn't...I knew, though, I knew from the minute I saw her, I just...put it out of my head...told myself that...that she wouldn't...she wouldn't make the same mistakes that I had..., but.." I trailed off again, involuntarily leaning onto Fred's shoulder. His arm encircled me just as naturally, and he simply held me.

I didn't cry, but we stayed like that for a long time, and we both skipped breakfast. Some stupid part of me regretted it, because toast wasn't exactly served at lunch. But I ignored it, and when Fred finally checked the time, it was twelve-thirty. "We should go eat something." he said softly. I nodded, but didn't make any move to get up. Neither did he.

I didn't realize I had fallen asleep until I woke up, with a sour taste in my mouth and feeling like my stomach was eating itself out of lack of other options. I bolted upright, for a moment wondering where I was. Then I saw Fred next to me, slowly stirring, and everything came back. While we were asleep, my arms had snaked around him and I had put my head in the crook of his neck, and I had a sort of guilty lump in my throat, but I couldn't figure out why. I checked the time on the grandfather clock that was standing on one side of the room, and nearly screamed.

"Fred." I said, shaking him. He murmured something intelligible, before putting his arm back around me - the arm that I had discarded when I bolted upright - and pulling me down to his chest again. It was tempting to stay that way and fall asleep again, because I was seriously tired, but I wrestled myself from his grasp. "Fred, wake up. Wake up!" I yanked on one of his arms, and he finally got up. "Fred, it's eight."

"So?" he muttered sleepily. "S'a weekend."

"No, Fred- Fred!" I shook him. "Eight PM! We have to eat dinner!" He reluctantly sat up, running a hand through his hair before standing up. "No, wait!" I said, catching his wrist. He looked at me questioningly. "We've just been sleeping, and we were together, and people are going to think that we were-" I stopped, blushing.

"Sleeping together?" he said, eyebrows raised but smiling. "Who cares? Come on, I'm starving."

"I'll go freshen up first." I said. "You can...you can go on ahead if you want." I offered, but he shook his head.

"I think I'll go, erm, 'freshen up' too." he said, making air quotes. "My hair must look horrible."

"You look fine. More than fine, even." I said - again with the stupid involuntary mouth. "But, erm, we..uh, wouldn't want to let Linda see you looking anything less than perfect, would we?" I rectified, smiling at him before ducking into my dormitory. I didn't expect to find Katie sitting on my bed, looking up when she saw me - as if she was waiting for me.

"Katie." I breathed. My knees felt weak with relief. I rushed towards her, hugging her as tightly as I could. "Are you alright?" I asked desperately. "No, of course you're not, you can't be alright, but are you better than before? I know that I shouldn't have called Angelina but you looked horrible, you looked worse than anyone I'd ever seen - I had to, I just-"

"Thank you." her voice was slightly muffled from being buried in my shoulder, but it shook with gratitude. She pulled away and smiled weakly. "Madam Pomfrey took me to St. Mungo's herself. She said something about a promise. And they've given me a potion that I'm to take whenever I feel the withdrawal symptoms. That's pretty much all they can do, really." she said, shrugging. "But thank you, Roxy. Really." she smiled. I was nearly crying.

"By the way,". she said. "What were you and Fred up to?" she asked sneakily, grinning. I turned red.

"Nothing, we-" I stammered. "We were talking, and then we fell asleep, that was it, we didn't-"

"Alright, alright, I believe you!" she said, laughing as she took a drink of water from the jug on her bedside table. "It's part of the treatment." she said, holding up the jug. "Staying hydrated. Anyway," she said, turning back to me. "I may believe you, but everyone else who passed by the common room...well, they may have thought that there was something in between the talking and the sleeping. And, erm, you know Linda Biggs?" she asked hesitantly.

"From Hufflepuff? Yeah." I said cautiously.

"Well, erm, she has a couple friends in Gryffindor. You know, fifth-years and the like. And, well, one or two may or may not have told her that you and Fred were snogging in the common room." she finished sheepishly. "I did try to stop them, but I was so tired, and Madam Pomfrey had told me to rest, so I did. Oh, and I brought you back some food!" she said, going to my night table and handing me a plate, covered with a handkerchief. "I thought it might save you the trouble of going downstairs and facing everyone."

"Thank you, Katie." I said gratefully. "Will you be alright, up here by yourself?" I asked, concerned.

"I'll be fine." she said, and her smile was genuine.

"You've eaten, have you?" I asked.

"Go on, get out of here." she said cheerfully. "I'm right here and I'll be good, I promise."

I smiled and left, holding the plate aloft. Fred was waiting for me at the bottom of the staircase. "What's the plate for?" he asked when I reached the last step.

"Food." I said. "I don't want to go down to the Hall." I said, my stupid mouth with its brutal honesty winning my logical brain over. "You know, rumours." I said reluctantly. "You can go if you want, but I mean, I'm pretty sure there's enough for two here." I gestured to the plate. Fred was looking at me weirdly, like he felt sorry for me or something. No, more like he was disappointed.

"D'you want me to stay?" he asked softly, willing me to tell him the truth. I looked into his eyes and nodded slightly.

"Come on, then." he said, leading me to the boys dormitory.

"Are other people allowed in here?" I asked concernedly.

"I thought you liked breaking rules." he said flatly, which really wasn't much of an answer, but it was something. I walked in after him, not sure what to expect.

My first impression was of posters. Many, many posters. Posters upon posters upon posters. Of everything imaginable. Quidditch teams, motorcycles, Zonko's posters, and photographs. Photographs everywhere - of Fred, George, and who I recognized as Lee Jordan, who Fred and I had Transfiguration with. And then, looking a lot newer than the rest of the pictures, a picture I placed immediately - taken when Lee had gotten a new camera just the day before, and gone crazy.

In the picture, me and Fred were standing together, his arm around my shoulder and mine around his waist, grinning, me rolling my eyes when Fred attempted to ruin the picture by making rabbit ears with his forefingers and holding them above my head. I smiled at it, then noticed that it was next to the bed that Fred was walking towards. Right next to it. Like it had been pinned up recently. That and one picture of what I guessed to be his whole family were the only ones that were right next to his bed, where Fred was sitting right now, leaning against the bedpost.

I realized that I had never had a friend like Fred - a friend who knew when I was making the wrong decision and would mope around until I made the right one, a friend who would rely on me as much as I relied on him, a friend who wouldn't care if there were rumours going around that we were snogging on the couch in the Gryffindor common room; a friend who would have a picture of both of us next to his bed.

I walked up to him, lay the plate down on his night table, and hugged him. Put my arms around his neck and buried my face in his shoulder, at the same time kicking off my shoes and pulling my legs onto the bed. He seemed surprised at first, leaning back stiffly, but gradually responding, his arms encircling my waist and holding me. "Come on." I said, pulling away after a while, my voice thick. I smiled at him. "Let's go have dinner." I pulled him off the bed and we walked, hand in hand, down to the Hall, abandoning the plate on the table.

And later, after I had retrieved the plate and we sat by the fire and ate what was on that, as well, since we were both gluttonous beasts; after we had laughed and whispered and shouted and sung snippets of songs that we both knew the lyrics to; after we had both taken a solemn oath to finish all our homework the next day; when I'd slipped into bed and drawn the hangings, I reached into my bag, took out my copy of the same photo that Lee had given me, and tacked it up next to my bed.

**_~"I am human and I need to be loved just like everybody else does."~_**

I was up at five the next day for no particular reason, and occupied myself with homework, even attempting my Charms essay before balling it up and setting it on fire for personal amusement and because it was slightly chilly. On this notion, I wore my robes over my uniform after I showered, and left my hair down to shelter my neck. By seven-thirty, when Fred came down to the common room, I wordlessly handed him 'his' Potions essay and an empty scroll of parchment for the Charms essay.

"Blimey, Roxy." he muttered sleepily, settling next to me on the couch. "Give a man a chance to wake up." he yawned and stretched, and I rolled my eyes at him. "You shouldn't have come downstairs if you didn't want to get to work immediately. Come on, it's been nagging at my mind the whole week, I need to - well, I need you to - get this done, alright?" I said irritably. I was faintly tired myself.

I shook the feeling away - there had been no time for tiredness in Durmstrang, in between training and classes and the meagre amount of sleep we were allowed and soon learnt to become thankful for. Beauxbatons had allowed me to sleep well enough, and I was there first, so the starting days at Durmstrang were crazy and unfocused. I was jolted out of my reminiscence by Fred's annoyed voice.

"How is it that you can't stay nice and normal and not paranoid for more than a day?" he said, snatching the parchment out of my hands so fast that my fingers were stained with tiny little paper cuts. They stung, and as I healed them, I knew that Fred's words had stung me too. Stung me into realization.

"I'm sorry." I said silently, attempting a smile. "But I was at Beauxbatons, wasn't I? Land of the bitches." I murmured truthfully. My days at Beauxbatons hadn't been much better; so many days and days of being teased and poked and prodded and getting the most demeaning and condescending notes and remarks that it was barely surprising that I was a mess of tears back then. Durmstrang was what had really toughened me up.

"I really am sorry, I'm just nervous. I get nervous the first week of school, every year. Get determined not to play pranks, not to joke around, to pay attention. Second week is when it all goes flying out the window." I glanced at him, and he was raptly paying attention. I felt the utmost need to say it. "I've never told anyone that before." I said, in a tone of voice that was an octave higher than my normal one. Fred looked at me for a long while, before reaching over to rub the skin on the left side of my mouth.

"Chocolate, I think." he muttered, taking his hand away from my face awkwardly.

"Thanks." I murmured, that stupid blush blooming in my cheeks. "I got it from Katie." I said truthfully. "Her parents only found out late last night, and they sent her the best Honeydukes. She said there was no way she could finish it herself, and now there's a pile in my top drawer." I said, smiling. "I was hungry this morning, but I kind of woke up at five, so I doubted that breakfast was ready, so-"

"Why do you wake up so early every day?" he asked suddenly.

"Durmstrang." I responded automatically. "I told you, we woke up at-"

"Four, yeah," he answered. "But you're not in Durmstrang anymore, are you? That's why you slept so long yesterday. Half the time-" he stopped, turning pink. "Half the time I was just looking at you...and, erm, everyone in the common room. You were the one that slept the whole time. You may not be tired, but you'd be ready to sleep any hour of the day. You slept for eight hours, Roxy." he said worriedly. I looked at him and smiled.

"So now you're about to suggest that I should go upstairs and sleep." I said, laughing. He shook his head.

"I'm just saying that maybe waking up at five isn't the best idea. Especially after we only went to bed at eleven." he seemed genuinely concerned, and I reassuringly grinned.

"Calm down. I always have History of Magic to sleep." I said, nudging him with my elbow playfully. His worried look faded gradually. "Breakfast?" I asked, looking at him.

"Yeah, sure."

We walked down to the Hall, talking and laughing as usual, arguing over whether or not Hate Potion was a good band.

"They're so old!" Fred claimed.

"They're not that old." I scoffed. "You just don't like them because they're not the Weird Sisters!" I jibed, laughing. Fred's expression was hilarious. "I'm joking, I'm joking!" I sputtered. His terrified face melted off as he joined in the laughter.

"Alright, alright. Hate Potion is okay." he said long-sufferingly, like it was complete overexaggeration. I smacked him on the shoulder with my Transfiguration book.

"Oh, shut up." I said, emphasizing every word with another hit. He deftly grabbed the book from me and held it teasingly over my head. "Good, it was getting really heavy." I started walking into the Hall when a thud and a shriek stopped me.

"How could you?!"

I knew that voice. I knew that voice very, very, well. But that didn't make me anymore enthusiastic to turn around and greet it. Gritting my teeth, I did. "Hello, Linda." my voice was calm, and I ignored Fred's confused look from me to her.

"SLUT!" she screamed from the bottom step of the staircase, where her bag, split open and with notebooks and textbooks askew, was lying, presumably dropped. "You knew!" she wasn't crying, but there was a look of fury in her eyes that I didn't think she was capable of producing. "You knew I liked him, and you still had to go off and snog him! I've known him for six sodding years!" she squealed. "And you? Oh, yeah, a bloody week!" her screeches echoed off of the walls of the Entrance Hall. "You slaggy, idiotic little..." she advanced, drawing her wand.

My wand was already firmly gripped in my right hand, though it was hidden under my robes - I wouldn't use any magic unless absolutely necessary. A single thought kept running through my head - it's Sunday. It's still the first week. You're going to get into trouble in your first week at school. A firm, gentle hand on my shoulder relaxed me. Fred wouldn't let me do anything reckless or stupid.

"Come on." he said quietly, and we both walked towards the Great Hall, and he made sure to purposefully let his arm drop from my shoulder. That irked me - it was almost like he was trying to prove something to Linda. I subtly moved closer to him and slid my arm around his waist, and he automatically put his arm around me. It made me feel safer, somehow. Ironic. I heard her yelling out the incantation before I saw the orange flash that I knew all too well. I was about to turn around and send it right back at her when I was knocked to the ground. And there was only one person close enough to me that could've shoved me.

_**~"Dreams can make you compromise, oh, sometimes I want to disappear."~**_

I went to visit Fred in the hospital wing at eight, carrying a covered plate. After Madam Pomfrey scrutinized the contents carefully, I was led to his bed. "Hey." I said softly, setting the plate on the table next to him and standing awkwardly. He looked up from the magazine he was reading and smiled, his face cleaned up but still slightly gruesome. "How's the nose, then?" I asked as he scooted over on his bed so that I could sit down, which I did.

"Not broken anymore, but the cartilage is messed up so I have to dab it with this." he said, gesturing to a padded cloth in his hand that was presumably filled with ice. I tenderly took it from him and moved closer to him, so that our noses - his mangled, mine normal - were nearly touching. I gently dabbed his nose, occasionally locking eyes with him and looking down quickly.

"I kind of feel sorry for Linda." I said softly, with a wry smile.

"She tried to break your leg." he said skeptically. I smacked him upside the head.

"I meant that...she really did believe those rumors. I should have said something at least." I said, absentmindedly putting my hand around his neck to hold his head steady as I dabbed. "Then maybe instead of sitting here with a voice like a helium balloon, you'd be upstairs, playing a prank." I added, smiling softly. Fred gently took the iced cloth out of my hand, and our fingers automatically intertwined.

"I think that's enough of that." he whispered softly. "My nose feels like Scotland during the winter." That made me laugh, before I noticed our proximity. I leaned back reflexively, and hoped that the gesture wouldn't be taken as impolite. "And I don't mind that she believed those rumors." he said softly, not meeting my eyes. "I, erm..I mean, maybe she'll leave me alone in Herbology tomorrow." he smiled, and I had to grin reluctantly.

"Or we could just put her in the path of a rampant Tentacula." I said matter-of-factly, although I was still smiling. "Either one."

"Is this dinner?" he asked, gesturing to the plate. I nodded, and he uncovered the cloth with a flourish.

"Baked potatoes, roast chicken, French beans, chips, mashed potatoes, two slices of carrot-and-leek quiche, and...more chicken." I rattled off without looking.

"You forgot lamb chops." he said, mock-whining. I smacked him again.

"Eat the bloody food, Fred." I said, before delving into my bag taking out a long, fresh roll of parchment, an inkpot, and a quill. I dipped the quill into the pot and, across the top, carefully wrote - Extended Shield Charms and Their Properties. "Right, then." I said briskly, handing both quill and parchment (the inkwell was on the table) over to him. "I'll need this tomorrow morning." Fred raised his eyebrows. "Oh, come on - I did all three of your Potions essays this week." I argued. "There's only one Charms essay and you promised you'd do it." I was pleading, and I knew he'd cave in soon.

"Yeah, all right, I'll get it done." he said, idly chewing on a bean. I beamed, then faltered. I wanted to ask him the question that had been irking me since Friday. But I wasn't sure what I would do if I got the wrong answer.

"Fred?" I asked tremulously. He looked straight up at me, concerned. "Are we...?" I stopped, inhaling and exhaling deeply. "Are we best friends, Fred?" I managed to get out. I immediately regretted saying it - his eyebrows were knitting together, and he had a vaguely unhappy manner about him; eyes downcast and shifting around, corners of the mouth no longer turned upwards. But after a minute of this, he locked his gaze on me and smiled.

"Yeah." he said, his voice low. He cleared his throat and tried again. "Yeah, definitely. Yes. Yes, Roxanne, you are my best friend." One corner of his mouth lifted higher than the other, and I let out what I presumed to be a gasp of relief before throwing my arms around him. "Calm down, for Merlin's sake." he said, but he wrapped his arms around my waist and held me. I could feel tears pricking the corners of my eyes, but I buried my face in the crook of Fred's neck in an attempt to subdue them.

It didn't work, and I could feel the warm salt water trickle down his neck and onto his shirt collar. "Hey." he said softly, pulling away to look at me. "It's okay." he said simply, smiling slightly.

"I know." I said thickly, managing to smile as I wiped the tears away with the heels of my hands. "I know, Fred, and it's never been as okay as it is right now. That's why I'm crying." I mumbled through my tears as he engulfed me in his arms again.

I really am an emotional idiot sometimes.

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**A/N - Hi there! This is a pretty short chapter, it's five pages shorter than the first, but I hope you guys like it. Reviews are homemade chewy chocolate chip cookies. :)  
Song credits - Is This It - The Strokes, How Soon is Now? - The Smiths, Houdini - Foster the People**


	3. Quaffles, Waffles

**.: Disclaimer :. I don't own Harry Potter, but Roxanne belongs to me.**

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**_~"The dust has only just begun to form crop circles in the carpet."~_**

"Oi, get up, you stupid oaf." Angelina's no-nonsense voice pierced my wonderful, dreamless sleep

"Angie, I love you, but not enough for a snog at six in the morning." I murmured into my pillow sleepily. It had been another week. I had taken Fred's advice to heart and now woke up heartily at eight, grateful for the extra four hours I got. What with the number of Potions essays Snape insisted on assigning - times two, since I had to do Fred's - and the amount of spells that McGonagall had assured us would show up at NEWT level, my favorite thing in the world had gone from toast to sleeping in less than a week. I heard Angelina's grudging chuckle before she prodded me again.

"Come on, practice." she said briefly. I groaned and turned over to face her.

"The next match is two weeks away!" I said protestingly as she dragged me out of bed. She stopped abruptly.

"You mean - the next match is only two weeks away, which is why we have to get Ron into shape!" she said firmly, resuming the dragging. She gave me two minutes to get ready - "Don't bother showering" - and change into my robes. I managed to twist my hair into a messy bun even as she tugged on my arm, and used a Summoning Charm to grab my Quidditch shoes, a pair of brown leather lace-up boots with a firm grip.

"Alright, alright!" I said as she pulled me along, making me trip over a table, a sofa, and Fred's outstretched toe, although the last one may have not been her fault. I sent him a mocking glare and then a wide-eyed silent cry for help as I tripped over another chair. "I can walk, Angie!" I said desperately, and she finally let me go to clamber through the portrait hole. I dusted off my robes and looked at Fred expectantly. "Coming?"

He shrugged, standing up. "She didn't call for us, but I've got nothing better to do." he said, before twisting on the spot, disappearing, and reappearing a minute later dressed in his Quidditch robes.

"Sixty seconds, Fred." I said, pulling him by the arm. "Sixty whole seconds wasted. She'll kill us."

Ever since I had made Third Chaser for the Gryffindor Quidditch Team on the first Friday of term, I had learned to be on my toes around Angelina. She was lenient around me for the first hour, but soon started bellowing at me like everyone else. It was quite refreshing, actually. All people ever did in Durmstrang was yell, so all the teachers at Hogwarts surprised me with their lack of horrible attitude. That is, except Snape. Snape was perfectly fine in my books, because I had dealt with a lot worse, but to the Weasleys and Harry - whom I'd met a couple days ago - he was pure evil.

I walked into the locker room, only a few steps behind Angie. Closing the door, I grabbed the keys to the broom shed from a hook on the right and went to unlock it, as was my designated 'chore'. Chores in Durmstrang were a little more scrub-the-ballroom-with-a- toothbrush-and-water. Fred's was to hand out towels, Katie's was to check the pitch for any unwanted spectators, and Angelina's was to generally drive us all crazy with her yelling.

"Harry, here." I said as I tossed him the Firebolt, giving him a fleeting smile that he returned promptly. I noticed that Ron was looking a little green as I handed him his broom, so I gave him what I hoped would be taken as a reassuring pat on the shoulder before walking back to grab my own Comet 290.

"Come on, then!" Angelina shouted as she walked outside. We all followed, and I shouldered my broom as I stifled a yawn. This sleep really was catching up to me. I punched Fred playfully in the shoulder as I passed him.

"You shouldn't have told me to sleep." I said blearily. "Now that's all I do." He grinned at me but didn't reply, and I silently got into formation with Angelina to the right and in front of me, and Katie on her other side, parallel to me, so that we formed an arrow. I mounted my broom and faced forward, breathing deeply. I loved the smell of good Quidditch conditions. In Beauxbatons, we had no Quidditch, but in Durmstrang, it was compulsory. And they worked us to the bone - literally. My ribs were still bruised.

"Go!" Angelina's sharp voice was like a whip in the wind as I kicked off, making sure to keep formation. The wind was sharp and whistled in my ears, and I vaguely realized that my bun had come loose, leaving the lonely hair elastic behind somewhere on the ground. It wasn't much of a deterrent - Katie and Angie had their hair down as well - but I decided to make sure that it was secure next time.

I flew around aimlessly for the first half an hour, watching Katie and Angie score and passing to one of them as soon as I got the Quaffle. Then I heard a whistling noise behind me that sent alarm bells ringing and Angelina panicking.

"Roxy, Four o'clock!" she yelled, and I immediately leaned severely to the right so that my broom automatically pushed me upside down, narrowly missing the bludger that Fred had hit towards my back where I couldn't see it. I sent him another glare before continuing to fly upside down, accustomed to the rush of blood in my head thanks to Durmstrang. I caught the Quaffle when Katie passed it to me and righted myself, heading for Ron and gaining speed as I gripped it with both thumbs and my broom with the rest of my numbing fingers.

As soon as I was within a ten-foot distance of Ron, I shifted the Quaffle to my right hand and wrapped the fingers of my left around the broom firmly. I swung back with my hand, twisted my hand to the left inconspicuously, and kept my eyes focused on the right goalpost, while really I was aiming for the left. I threw the Quaffle with a force that nearly jolted me off of my broom, and it careened severely to the left, missing the rim of the goalpost by a whisker and sailing smoothly in.

I was smiling inwardly at my success, but Ron looked terrible, and he had nearly collided with a goalpost. At Angelina's angry signal, we all sank slowly back to the ground.

"What the hell is wrong with you, Ron!" she yelled as soon as his feet skimmed the grass. I nearly coughed in surprise, but luckily managed to hold it in. Ron looked even worse now, head hanging and face with a definite greenish tinge to it. His legs were shaking and he had dropped his broom. "That was the easiest goal I've ever seen!" her shouts were carrying, bouncing off of the stands.

"Leave him alone, Angie." George said softly, reaching out a hand to cup her shoulder. She looked like she wanted to punch both George and Ron in the face with a chair, but she held back, instead settling for a last dig at him:

"Pull yourself together, Ron! If you can't even see through a Fuente's Faker then I'm pulling you off!" she shouted before storming off to the changing rooms. The team breathed a collective sigh - of relief, of anger, and me of guilt.

"Ron, I'm-" I started, but he was already walking in the other direction, much like the rest of the team. Katie patted my back gently before walking with them. I felt a small lump in my throat, but Fred's voice stopped me from calling out to Ron.

"I don't think so, d'you?" he said softly. I shook my head slightly, eyes shut tight, and groped blindly for his hand.

We walked back to the changing rooms in silence, and I managed not to cry. I showered with the warmest water setting allowed, nearly scorching my skin but clearing my head. When I walked out, back into normal robes and uniform, I finger-combed my hair, leaving it to air-dry. "Breakfast?" I said tremulously, looking up at Fred. He sighed, then nodded.

"It wasn't your fault, Roxy." he said on our way back up to the castle. "It's your job to score. It's Ron's job to Keep. He didn't Keep. You scored." I gave him a sad little half-smile.

"Thanks, Fred." I said gently as we walked into the Great Hall. "What have we got today?" I asked him.

"Umbridge, Snape, Binns, and...hey, Hagr- oh, Grubbly-Plank." he said dejectedly, stuffing his timetable back into his bag as we sat down. I groaned. Umbridge was horrible, Binns was a boring lullaby, and Grubbly-Plank would just enhance the bad mood that Snape would create. "Maybe we can skip?" he asked hopefully.

"Yeah, maybe." I said, but both of us knew that it was half-hearted. I wasn't really in the mood to break a couple rules, and Fred...I didn't know why, but it didn't seem like Fred wanted to do anything that I didn't want to do. I took a gigantic bite out of my toast and let out a tiny sigh of relief.

"What?" Fred asked, one eyebrow raised.

"The toast is perfect." I said, smiling. He looked at me like I belonged in a mental asylum. "Sometimes the toast is burnt, and because of that I have a horrible day. Or some other days, it's barely even toasted, and it's just stiff bread, and so I float through the day, not noticing a lot, and not focusing on anything in particular. But some days the toast is perfectly golden-brown and crunchy, and the day goes beautifully."

"You judge your days based on your toast." he said, looking like he was trying to hide a grin. I smacked him upside the head.

"Shut up." I said affrontedly. "It sounds better in my head, I just suck at wording things. Besides," I decided to jibe at him. "You judge your days based on whether or not Linda stares at you possessively over breakfast." I said frankly. He froze.

"She's doing it again?" he asked, sounding disgusted and horrified at the same time. I nodded, hiding a smile of my own. It was horrible, but she would stare at him all the time, enamored, drooling onto her breakfast.

"It's probably your hair." I said absentmindedly, reaching towards him to flick away a piece of lint on his shoulder. "You know, orange-ish gold, wavy, tousled, nearly touching your shoulders, glinting in the sunlight - the whole hog." I smiled, but he looked at me weirdly.

"You actually think that?" he asked, looking - I couldn't really describe what he looked like.

"What, that your hair's pretty?" I said, smirking. "Yeah, yeah, Rapunzel, it's beautiful. Can I borrow your straightening iron once in a while, Freddie?" I shot at him in an Umbridge-like falsetto, using Linda's garish nickname. "Merlin, I can't believe she calls you that."

"Jealous?" he asked jokingly, scooping bacon onto his plate. I snagged two rashers off of it and snorted derisively.

"I'd be a much better girlfriend than she ever would." I said testily, taking another bite of toast. His gaze rested on mine for a minute longer than necessary, but he simply grinned, albeit weakly.

"Course you would." he said, rolling his eyes. I smacked him again, this time with a slice of toast.

"Hey, guys." Katie said dejectedly as she joined us, halfheartedly scooping up a waffle and munching arbitrarily.

"What's up?" I asked, concerned. I noticed that Fred had tensed up beside me as well.

"Oh, nothing you two should be worried about, it's been two weeks, I'm fine." She rolled her eyes. "I just don't want to face Arithmancy. Professor Vector is an idiot." she said, giving me a small smile as I passed her the whipped cream, sitting in an elegant bowl with a spoon delicately dipped into it.

"You don't need Arithmancy to be a Healer." I said, my eyebrows furrowing in question. "

"I know, Roxy, but it's fun on days when you actually feel bothered to make an effort." she tried reasoning.

"Never, then." I smirked, grabbing for another rasher of bacon. I felt a tap on my shoulder. "Hey, Ryan." I said, smiling at him. Ryan was a Ravenclaw I knew from Ancient Runes - we had been partnered up for the latest assignment.

"Are you free this evening?" he asked without preamble. He had chestnut-brown hair hanging around his neck and framing his piercingly blue eyes, and his half-smile was accentuated by his blindingly white teeth.

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure." I said.

"Library then?" He asked.

"Sure." I said, still smiling and maybe blushing a little. "Seven?"

"Seven." he said, nodding before walking away to his table.

"Well, somebody has a major crush." Katie said obnoxiously, winking at me.

"Oh, shut up." I said, throwing a bacon rasher at her. She caught it and placed it primly back onto my plate.

"Well, at least you've got good taste." she said, casting her eyes to the ceiling and back.

"Good taste?" Fred spluttered, sending pumpkin juice down the front of his robes. I flicked him a napkin and he took it, still staring at Katie like she had just suggested that the moon was made of plastic.

"Well," Katie said snidely. "He's adorably cute, nerdy in that attractive way, and he's really sweet too." she concluded, brushing the crumbs off of her plate. "Not that you aren't, Fred, but he's a Ravenclaw." she said, murmuring the word like it suddenly was important. "Dating a Ravenclaw would do wonders for Roxy's rep. Not that I care, I'll always love you, Roxy, but if you're smart enough to date one of those, you might as well take the gossip that comes with it."

"Katie." I said frankly. "I'm not going to date him. He's my partner on an Ancient Runes assignment, for Agrippa's sake."

"That's what they all are at first." she said mischievously. "And Roxy - I saw that blush." she said in a stage whisper before gathering her books and walking away. I laughed at her retreating form, turning to Fred.

"She's crazy." I said, still smiling. "Come on, let's get to Umbridge's class or she'll kill us." I slung my bag over my shoulder and he did the same, still looking a bit waterlogged. I stopped him by the arm. "I'm going to do an assignment with him, not snog him behind a library shelf." I said, grabbing his hand to lead him down the Hall, aware of Linda's glare as I did. Fred seemed to recover fairly quickly.

"Erm...that's supposed to be really popular, though." he said hazily. "The library shelf thing, I mean." I laughed, but he didn't really seem responsive. I led him to Umbridge's classroom in silence.

My toast seemed to have been wrong for once, because the day was as horrible as ever. Newly Appointed High Inquisitor-but-still-a-horrible-creature Umbridge gave us extra homework - "Answer the questions at the back of Advanced Defensive Magical Theory by Wilbert Slinkhard" - and Fred had to be held back by the combined efforts of Lee and I to keep himself from yelling at Snape. Binns was alright, because I got to take a nap and I knew that I could read up on it later...maybe. Grubbly-Plank, in all honesty, was great, but Fred remained adamantly convinced that Hagrid was a better teacher. I had heard horrible stories from Katie about a scary crossbred firecrab-thing, but stayed silent.

By the time we reached the common room, he had gotten snappy and irritable and was muttering under his breath. It was six fifteen, so I went upstairs to shower, dropping my bag onto the couch where he was sitting but not saying anything. I had learnt, over time, to just leave Fred alone when he was like this.

I came back downstairs half an hour later, hair blow-dried and tied up in a high ponytail. I was wearing an olive green button-down and my favorite pair of worn jeans - after classes, uniform wasn't enforced. My feet were in velvet taupe-colored flats, that barely made a sound as I came down the stairs. I had dared to run the lip gloss stick softly across my mouth, and I wasn't sure how it would look. "Fred?" I called softly. He was still in his couch, his eyes reflecting the fire flickering in front of him, but he turned when he heard his name.

"Hey." he said quietly.

"Hey." I said back. "I've got ten minutes." I said, settling next to him before taking out all the unnecessary books in my bag. All I needed was my Ancient Runes textbook, a quill, an inkpot, and parchment. "What's up?" I said, turning to meet his gaze.

"Nothing." his lie was so obvious, it could've been Umbridge's bright pink cardigan. I kept looking at him. "Nothing. Everything. I don't know." he groaned, leaning his head against the couch. I drew my knees up to my chest and hugged them close, staring into the fire until the image of the flickering embers was branded in my mind, eyes shut tight to make it go away. I knew Fred would talk if he wanted to. There was no point in making him. We sat there for ten minutes, completely silent, before I stood up.

"Don't want a repeat of that one Saturday, do we?" I said softly, smiling as I picked up my bag and slung it over my shoulder, smoothing down the front of my shirt. "I'll see you at dinner. Eight, alright?" No answer. But as soon as I turned around, I heard him.

"Eight's fine. You look nice." his voice was barely there, but I heard it, and it made me smile unnaturally wide.

"Thanks." I murmured, not looking back, but climbing through the portrait hole. I reached the library in another two minutes, taking care to choose a table that would be visible from the entrance. I was joined by Ryan barely a minute later.

"You should wear green more often." he said bluntly even with his half-smile, setting his books on the table. "It goes with your eyes." My eyes were a drab brown that I didn't really think were noticeable, but I blushed anyway.

"Thanks."

"And you don't wear lip gloss usually. It looks great on you." he didn't talk flirtatiously, but as if it was a normal conversation and he wasn't making me blush to the roots of my hair. "We should get onto the assignment." he said, before pushing his chair closer to the table.

"Right."

We worked on it for about an hour, getting three feet of the four feet done and deciding that on the final draft we would just fill up the final foot with well-placed illustrations and diagrams. "I should get to dinner." I said finally, standing up with a twinge of regret. "I promised my friend-"

"Yeah, I should get back to the dorm, I-" he said, standing up as well. We walked to the doors together, neither of us saying anything, until I plucked up the courage to.

"Not that I wouldn't like to stay, I mean-"

"Yeah, we should probably meet up next week for the final-"

"I really would love to stay, but I am rather-"

And then he kissed me. Swiftly, but gently, and then he was gone, striding out of the library doors. I stood there, frozen to the spot, for about ten minutes, until I could regain my footing again. My cheeks burned, tingling at the spots where he had cupped my face in his hand for one hundredth of a second.

When I finally managed to reach the Great Hall, I found Fred sitting at the far end of the table, with Katie across from him, and George and Angelina not far.

"Took you long enough!" she chided as I sat down next to her blankly. She scrutinized my expression carefully before standing up to scan the rows of people at the Ravenclaw Table, obviously noticing Ryan's absence. "You little minx!" she gasped, eyes wide. Fred turned to look at me curiously. "You snogged Ryan Bowen!" she knew to whisper this, but one look at Fred's face and I knew that he had heard. His eyes were like dinner plates.

"Shut...it." I managed to croak out, before grabbing for my goblet and downing the pumpkin juice in it. "Shut it." I said with renewed vigour, yanking Katie's sleeve. "We didn't snog." I said contemptuously.

"But that's the you've-just-been-kissed look. Everyone knows that look. Lip gloss smudged, face vacant, dreamy smile, boy absent from proceedings...it's obvious." Katie concluded, confused.

"He kissed me." I said cautiously, my gaze flicking towards Fred's for some reason. I spoke with extra emphasis. "But we most definitely did not snog."

"But you liked it-" Katie tried to protest, but I interrupted her.

"That's besides the point." I said primly, ladling gravy over my mashed potatoes. "We didn't snog."

"So you did like it?" Fred's eyebrows were raised, and not humorously. I turned pink.

"Doesn't matter." I said stiffly, averting my eyes.

"Yeah, she did," Katie answered Fred for me, and then turned back to me. "But was he a good k-" her eager question was cut off my my blunt remark.

"Katie. This isn't the dorm. This is the Hall. People can't hear you in the dorm, but they can hear you in the Hall." I said, giving her my best glare. She sighed discontentedly.

"Alright, fine." she said, turning moodily back to her tiny plateful of rice. I avoided looking at Fred for the rest of the meal, but when it ended and he got up at first opportunity, I scooped my bag up in my arms and ran after him, catching up to him at the stairs.

"Fred?" I said softly, his back turned to me as he walked slowly up.

"I'm fine." he said, not looking back at me. "Just tired." I ran up the stairs and gripped him by the shoulders, turning him to face me. His face was tired, but there was a hint of resentment - misdirected resentment - in his eyes as well. "I'm fine, Roxy." he said, still unsmiling.

"Stop lying to me." I breathed, angry and saddened. My eyes stung. "Why do you care, anyway? He's a nice person, and I like him, and he kissed me - so what? I'm still your best friend and I still put you first, you know that." I said, and I hadn't let go of his shoulders. I gave him a quick, tight hug, to which he was unresponsive, and walked back down, fighting my way through the throng that was starting to come out of the Hall.

**_~"I'm the hero of this story, don't need to be saved."~_**

"So." Katie murmured confidentially, opening the hangings to my bed and grabbing a pillow to set it opposite mine and lie down. It was around three AM, yet she knew that I wouldn't be asleep. She slid into the covers and threw me a packet of assorted Bertie Botts, all horrible flavors removed. I picked out a handful of caramel popcorn beans, and placed the bag in the middle.

"Where's Angie?" I asked, in no hurry to divulge girlish secrets. Hand in My Pocket, a newly released Muggle single, played softly on the radio, making my eyes sting painfully.

"She's asleep." Katie said, making herself comfortable. "Got too tired after figuring out flying strategies for the next six years, I guess. So, come on, spill!" she said, digging me in the ribs with her toes.

"Ow!" I rubbed my midriff, giving her a mock glare and popping the beans into my mouth. "What do you want to know?" I asked in a low voice, conspiratorially, grabbing another handful. They seemed vaguely more addictive than normal Bertie Botts Beans. I shrugged the thought off. It had been a while since I had eaten any, that was all.

"Was it good?" she asked eagerly.

"Honestly, Katie, I told you." I said, leaning back against the bedpost. "It wasn't a full on snog, it was a kiss."

"Did you kiss him back?" she demanded.

"It was too short for that. It was like, I don't know." I mimed two people kissing with my hands, making it a tiny peck.

"Ugh." she slapped her forehead. "Snogs aren't forbidden in the library, you know. You had an opportunity to get your brains snogged out by the hottest Ravenclaw there is, and you miss it."

"I was frozen!" I said, blushing. "It's not like I had a choice. We were just talking and then he bloody kissed me. And then he walked away. What am I supposed to do? And then there's the whole problem with Fred. He's acting so weird. So bloody weird. It's almost like he hates me because another guy kissed me. How does that make any sense?" I asked, throwing my hands up in despair. Suddenly, I heard a tap on the window. Looking to my right, I saw an owl, shivering in the cold. I ran to the window and opened it, pulling it unceremoniously in by the wing before stroking its spine soothingly. I lifted it onto the warm bed, where it shook its feathers gratefully before sticking its leg out. I looked at the envelope and took it, eyebrows furrowing.

_Roxanne_

_Seventh Year Girls Dormitory_

_Gryffindor Tower_

"Well, open it!" Katie whisper-shrieked. "I bet you a Galleon it's your boyfriend."

"He's not my boyfriend." I said, giving her a dirty look before opening the envelope.

_Hey,_

_Sorry if I woke you up, I'm awake doing my eight-foot long Potions essay (Snape is a crazy git) and I thought I'd send you this. Just wondering if you were free Thursday at seven, just so we could finish the project. And maybe, you know, in case you don't have any friends waiting for you at dinner, we could stay a little later, get to know each other. :) Right, I'm going to send this now, because Elyron (my owl) is pecking my finger off._

_Yours,_

_Ryan_

"He wrote YOURS at the end of it!" Katie squealed happily. She could be such a girl sometimes. That's not to say I wasn't blushing furiously. "He wrote yours! YOURS! He's YOURS, Roxy. Merlin, I wish I could snog him. In the library. Behind the Restricted Section. No, In the Restricted Section. Wearing like a really tight dress. With-"

"Katie." I said, revolted. "Please go write that down somewhere if you have to get it out, but never say anything like that again."

"Oh, shut up and reply to your boyfriend." she said, handing me a piece of parchment and a No-Ink Quill. I sighed and begun to write. I wouldn't fuss about it. Sure, he made me nervous, but I would write it like I was writing to a friend.

_Hey back,_

_No, you didn't wake me up, me and my friend Katie were just messing around. Snape's a git, I'll agree - I've only finished two feet. Seven sounds great, I don't think I'm doing anything on Thursday. And...that getting to know you thing, absolutely. I'd love to. I'll meet you in the library then._

_-Roxanne_

_P.S. Your owl's adorable._

I looked over it, biting my lip. I had considered signing off as Roxy, but that seemed like a Fred-Katie-Angie-George-only thing. I didn't know why. It just did. On the back I wrote

_Ryan_

_Seventh Year Boys Dormitories_

_Ravenclaw Tower_

I rolled it up and tied it onto Elyron's leg, feeding him a pumpkin-flavored bean before he took off. I smiled and leaned against the bed, reaching for the strawberry flavored ones. "Can I have these?" I asked, reaching for the bag before she could answer. "Thanks." I started rummaging in the bag, mixing up all the flavours haphazardly and blindly picking out a huge handful.

"Oi, gimme that!" she said, carefully picking out all the coconut ones and popping each one into her mouth one after the other.

"We're both going to end up dead of sugar overdose." I joked, but we made no motion to stop or slow down. By five, we were half asleep, beans all over our clothes. "Goodnight, Katie." I said blearily, turning over and catching a salted caramel bean that fell from my shoulder. I chewed on it arbitrarily and closed my eyes.

**_~"I'm gonna make a mistake, I'm gonna do it on purpose."~_**

We woke up at ten.

After all the screaming and panicking and detaching beans from several articles of clothing - "How did that get there?" - we made our way down to the Great Hall, my eyes begging for sleep.

"Remind me," I said to Fred as I reached for a slice or eight of toast. "to never let Katie talk me into a sleepover gossip session." I murmured, bumping my forehead on his shoulder a couple times to get my brain to work. Eventually I just let my head lie on his shoulder, head aching and temples pounding. "Your neck is perfect." I said absently.

"What?" Fred's voice was dubious and confused.

"It's the perfect size." I insisted, lifting my head to take a bite of toast. "My head fits perfectly in it. And it's so warm. Like a bloody radiator. And your skin is so soft. And your sweater doesn't itch." I noticed that no one was saying anything and Fred and Katie were both staring at me. Fred looked scared for my sanity. Katie giggled.

"I wish I could find a perfect neck." she murmured, taking a gigantic bite of her waffle. "Roxy. Roxy. Roxy." she said repetitively, still giggling. "That box of Bertie Botts. It was the alcoholic version. I thought it would get you to talk. It was a bad idea." she fell about in her chair, still giggling.

"Oh, Merlin." Fred's voice was loud and hurt my ears.

"Shut up." I said acidly. He sighed, then raised his wand. "What are you doing?" I asked, suddenly angry. He muttered something under his breath, and immediately my headache disappeared. "Oh." I moaned in relief, realizing that he had just used an Anti-Hangover Charm, or something of the sort. "Thank you." I removed my head from his neck and suddenly became conscious of what I had said previously, just as he used the charm on Katie. I turned the color of a particularly embarrassed beetroot. I turned to Fred, my hand on his arm, and he nodded.

"It's fine." he said, smiling, not a hint of sarcasm or awkwardness in his voice.

"Are we okay, then?" I asked, my fingers sliding down his arm to meet his hand. "Not fighting anymore?"

"Yeah." he said, gripping my fingers tightly. "As long as you admit that I am much more attractive than your prospective boyfriend." he added, winking.

"Oh, Freddie!" I used my famous horrible falsetto again. "You always will be." I burst out laughing, but for some reason Fred didn't do more than grin. Katie was massaging her temples, sighing satisfactorily and thanking Fred and Merlin at random intervals. "And I sincerely doubt that he wants to be my boyfriend." I said matter-of-factly. "We're friends."

"They all are at the beginning." Katie said in a singsong voice, reaching for her ever-present waffles. I rolled my eyes and offered her the cream, but she declined, instead eating just the one waffle with a tiny bit of margarine and washing it down with the pumpkin juice in her cup.

I spread my last slice of toast (disgustingly undercooked - I couldn't really tell the difference between the toast and the bread) with a generous amount of melted dark chocolate that somehow managed to stay melted. I folded it into a triangle and took a huge bite, only to find Fred still grinning at me. I chewed and swallowed slowly, and his gaze didn't waver.

"What?" I asked, irked. His thumb reached up towards the side of my mouth, and I felt a peculiar sensation tugging at my navel. He gently rubbed the left side of my mouth, let his hand linger there for the shortest of moments, and pulled it back down to his spoon, still grinning.

"Chocolate." he muttered, ears pink. "It's becoming a habit, really. You should just avoid the stuff altogether." I reluctantly smiled back at him.

"Avoid chocolate?" I asked, eyebrows raised. "And you call me crazy."

"Who's the one who ate her way through half a bag of alcoholic jelly beans?" he smirked, and I admitted defeat, raising my goblet. He clinked it, and we both drank.

"What have we got today again? I'm too tired to try and remember." I asked, wiping my mouth of any pumpkin residue. He raised one eyebrow.

"It's Tuesday." he said, shrugging. "I've only got Charms with you. Ask Katie." he jerked his head towards her.

"Babbling-" she winked at me and I rolled my eyes. Bathsheda Babbling was our Ancient Runes teacher. "Grubbly-Plank, Flitwick, Snape - again, and Sinistra at ten." she brightened at the mention of Astronomy, as she did every week.

"Good, no Umbridge." I took another bite of my toast, being careful not to let any of it stray outside of my mouth. "Come on, then. Don't want to be late." I stood up and tried not to blush as I noted Ryan walking out of the Great Hall, surrounded by a group of friends that were all laughing heartily.

"Oh, of course not." Katie said acidly. "Don't want to be late to Ancient Runes, do we, Roxy?"

"Shut it, Bell." I said curtly. "I've still not forgiven you for making me eat a pint's worth of those beans."

"Oh, be quiet." she said, getting up from the bench and throwing her arm around me. "You know I'm sorry, and you know you can't be mad at me for long." she said wisely. Honestly, she seemed all innocent when I first met her, and now she was pure evil - pure evil with the most convincing puppy eyes. I sighed angrily, bade goodbye to Fred, and let Katie eagerly lead me to the sixth floor.

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**A/N - Hello! It's pretty late, but I thought after making you guys wait so long, I should just update instead of waiting for tomorrow. The formatting is a bit messed up, and there's lots of space where there doesn't need to be, but just pretend like it's not there for me, please. Reviews are huge fatty rashers of bacon. I'm going to end up with diabetes, honestly. Goodnight! - or whatever greeting I should bid you in your respective time zones. :) Let me know what you think. This chapter was (thankfully) as long as the first one. Song Credits - Hide and Seek by Imogen Heap, Hero by Regina Spektor, and A Mistake by Fiona Apple. **


	4. Chocolate Thoughts

**A/N: Hi there! Hope you guys enjoy the fourth Chapter!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, but Roxanne belongs to me. :)**

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_**~"I feel the four become five, and I'm waiting, waiting, waiting."~**_

"The toast is wrong!" I said, throwing my hands up in despair as I walked into the common room, throwing my bag onto the round couch where the six of us - George, Angie, Fred, Katie, Lee, and I - usually sat. Lee raised his eyebrows blearily from his corner of the couch, feet up on the table and evidently just interrupted in the act of utter relaxation. "Sorry, Jordan." I said unfeelingly, plopping down next to him. Lee, for some reason, was usually Lee in my mind and Jordan out loud. I didn't really care. Neither did he.

"Something about toast?" he said sleepily, ruffling his thick black hair that stuck out in all directions.

"Yeah." I said vaguely. "Never mind, go back to sleep." I said, leaning back on the couch and putting my feet on the table as well.

"What did you say about toast?" Fred asked, concerned, as he walked out of his dorm and clambered over the couch to sit on my right. I turned towards him and hit my forehead on his shoulder again, before he effectively pushed my head back into a normal position with his hand, steering it firmly in place. "Haven't got the brain cells to spare, Roxy. Now, toast?"

"It isn't right." I said sadly. "I had a great day. The toast was barely cooked."

"And now you're letting that ruin your great day?" Fred asked skeptically. "Come on, Roxy." he said, throwing an arm around me.

"But now I won't be able to foretell my day!" I said irritably, although I succumbed to the weight of his arm and leaned against him forlornly.

"Maybe that's for the best?" he said gently. "I mean, you won't be predicting how your day goes, so you'll be able to approach every day equally. Surprises are fun. Sometimes even bad ones. We could even go down to the kitchens and check what's wrong with the toast, make it perfect every day. That way you'll have a positive outlook all the time."

I sighed, knowing he was right. "Thanks." I said grudgingly. "Where's Angie?" I asked, and he stiffened slightly.

"With George, probably." he managed to say, before falling completely silent. I wrapped my arms around him, hugging him comfortingly.

"It's fine." I said sleepily, letting go. "You've got Linda, anyway." I grinned slightly, and Fred managed a weak bark of laughter. "Right, I've got a Potions essay to complete." I said, yawning, before taking out a familiar roll of parchment and spreading it out.

"And I've got two Charms essays." he sighed, knowing that Flitwick would very well see through a Forging Charm and therefore, he had no way out but to write two four-foot essays.

"Oh, calm down." I said, reading the title that I had written down two nights previously. "I was the one that did your eight-foot Potions essay. Before I started mine, mind. And we'll get you some ice for your hand later, if you want." I dipped my quill into the deep blue inkpot and started writing.

Katie joined us an hour later, announcing dully - and unwisely - that George and Angelina were snogging in the Astronomy Tower, and had been seen by a gaggle of second years. who had seen the same thing happen quite a bit. Fred stayed silent for the rest of the evening, and even when I went upstairs to get him a bar of Honeydukes, he only accepted with a nod and a weak sort of smile-thing that looked more like a grimace than anything before going back to his (now second) Charms essay.

"Come on, Fred." I sighed sadly but not unkindly. "You could always go out with Lee." I said, gesturing to the now-asleep Jordan. Fred sat up as though electrified and looked at me suddenly.

"You?" he said, a sort of wild look in his eyes. I realized what it must've sounded like.

"No, I..." I said awkwardly, blushing. "No, Fred, I said...I said Lee." He looked like I had made him swallow a particularly nasty flobberworm, but he still managed a shaky laugh, though it didn't reach his eyes, which remained...disappointed.

"He's a regular sleeping beauty, that one." he managed to say, before leaning back on the couch and looking all for the world like a sad, lost Niffler.

I laughed with him, a small, nervous laugh, before he spoke again.

"So..." he said, dotting an i on "my" charms essay with an asterisk, as I was known to do when I got bored - we each knew the other's handwriting better than our own. "What about the day made it so great?"

"Huh?" I said blankly.

"You said that you had a great day today." he elaborated. "What made it great?"

That was probably the worst question to ask at such a level of awkwardness, and unfortunately, Katie took the opportunity to speak.

"Oh, Merlin, you should've seen the two of them..." she moaned, settling next to Fred and making a sickly simpering face not unlike Umbridge's. "Oh, shoot, I wrote eihwaz instead of laguz! The symbols are almost exactly the same!" she squealed in a honeyed falsetto. Then she changed her tone to a deep gravelly bass.

"It's okay, just use that to your advantage." she mimed writing a small line with great concentration - eyes squinting, tongue between her teeth. She continued with "Ryan's" voice, which sounded as similar to his as a goldfish was similar to a Grindylow. "There! Perfect. Hey, we're still on for tomorrow, right?" she said, stretching out the last syllable and giving him a dumb undertone that rubbed me the wrong way. She changed back into the falsetto.

"Of course, I meant what I said -" here she paused, to put a hand over her mouth in exaggerated slowness. "I mean, I meant what I wrote." here she ended, bowing slightly while I rolled my eyes, a little annoyed.

"He doesn't talk like that." I said testily. Katie read my expression and nodded indulgently.

"I know, Rox." she said, giving one shoulder a shrug and smiling slightly. "He's gorgeous. Really. And his voice is like molten gold. But I just like having fun at your expense."

Fred, if possible, had gotten even more silent, occasionally opening his mouth as if to say something, but then apparently thinking better of it and closing it before turning back to the Charms essay. Eventually he opened his mouth and cleared his throat slightly. I turned to him - I had been glaring at Katie and looking pointedly at Fred continuously - and smiled, as if to encourage whatever he wanted to say.

"Wrote?" his voice was slightly hoarse.

"Um, yes." I said quietly. "It was three AM, and, well, Katie and I were in the dorm, um-" I didn't want to say gossiping.

"Eating alcoholic jelly beans." Katie supplied, and I nodded gratefully.

"Yeah, that, and well, Ryan owled me from Ravenclaw Tower, and, erm, I replied." I ended, thinking randomly that if I had a knife of some sort, I could cut through the tension in the room.

"And, erm..." he said, his voice cautious. "What was this owl about?" he pried quietly.

"Well, he asked me whether I was free on Thursday, at seven, and I said yes." I said, before going over it and realizing that it sounded like he had asked me out. "To finish the assignment." I added hastily.

"Right." he said. He didn't say it sarcastically or anything, but it still annoyed me. I rolled up my dried Potions essay and rummaged in my bag for his, thrusting it towards him and stuffing my books back in my back. "Roxy." he said it softly, softly enough so that I could pretend that I hadn't heard it over the racket I was making with my books.

I unfurled the parchment that contained "my" Charms essay, saw that it was done, and started rolling it back into a scroll, my satchel hanging from the crook of my arm. I stood up firmly and hitched my bag more securely up to my shoulder and stuffed the essay into it.

"Goodnight." I said it crisply, one farewell for Fred and Katie both, the latter of which looked at me with large reproachful eyes, not used to the curt tone of my voice. I put it out of my mind and turned away.

"Roxy." Fred was louder this time, and I spun on my heel slowly to turn back to him, eyebrows raised in question. "I believe you. It's not a date." he said firmly. "I believe you." he said again, with more feeling. And obviously, instead of acknowledging this blatant statement of loyalty, my treacherous mouth decided to reply with the most heartless comment I had ever genuinely said to a friend. And the horrible thing is, in that moment, I felt like saying it.

"I wouldn't care even if you didn't." I said defiantly, staring him down as his face fell and registered a multitude of expressions, most of which I couldn't read. I turned and walked as steadily as I could, managing to make it to my dormitory and then my bedpost before my eyes started to sting. The radio was playing softly, another Alanis Morrisette song that had recently come out.

_I want you to know_

_That I'm happy for you_

_I wish nothing but the best for you both_

"Shut up!" I screamed suddenly, pointing my wand at it and causing it to break in two. I felt like I was breaking in two. As the realization of what I'd just said to Fred, to the best friend I'd ever met, hit me, my face crumpled as if by shutting my eyes tight, I would be able to erase it. I slowly sank to the floor, my body wracked with choking sobs, as I broke down in tears for the first time in four years. "Stupid, stupid, stupid, STUPID!" I screeched, banging the floor with my fists until they hurt.

"Roxy!" Katie's voice was plaintive, pleading, as she ran over to me, before sitting down awkwardly next to me, not knowing what to do as I cried. I was blubbering, bawling, the sort of crying I did as an eleven-year old after an afternoon of particularly nasty bullying from the Beauxbatons girls. I felt Katie's arm around me, and leaned into her, fat, glossy tears running down my cheeks and onto the shoulder of her blouse.

She let me have a good cry for fifteen minutes before she requested that I go and wash my face. I did this, splashing hot and then cold water over my red, blotchy face, taking deep, calming breaths to try to reduce the redness of my nose. When I came back, Katie was still sitting there helplessly, only now with a small bar of unopened green mint-filled Honeydukes chocolate in her hands. She gave it to me with a small smile.

"I would give you more, but you've got a d-...an appointment tomorrow at seven, and-" here she paused to look me straight in the eye. "Despite whatever Fred says or thinks or however he discourages you, Ryan is a nice person and you want to look your best. You won't look your best with five bars of chocolate in you." she shrugged, before sitting on her bed, legs facing me, and inclining her head to the empty space on my bed. "We don't have to talk." she added. "And there's nothing in that chocolate that's alcoholic, I promise. But we could just...sit." she said in a small voice.

"I would love to, Katie..." I said, my voice nearly back to normal. "But I think I should just get some sleep." I said, giving her a small smile. I tried to ignore the look of disappointment on her face as I clambered through the hangings before flopping into bed, fully clothed, and abandoning the chocolate on my bedside table.

It took me a long time to actually go to sleep.

_**~"I wish you were the one that got away."~**_

"Roxy."

Katie's voice was soft as she prodded me gently.

"I'm up." I lied, turning over in my sleep. "Oh, wait, I'm not." my voice was muffled by my pillow, and I would've stayed like that, too, if it weren't for Angie.

"Get up!" she said loudly, stripping the sheets off of the bed in one fluid motion and pushing me out of bed and onto the floor.

"That's gonna leave a bruise." I winced, looking at my elbow as I disgruntledly got up.

"Are you still in your uniform?" Angie wrinkled her nose. Without answering, she pulled me up by my (bruised) arm and sighed. "Come on, Roxy." she said, pushing me into the lavatory. "Go have a shower." she closed the door firmly and I sighed, turning on the showerhead and setting it to the warmest setting before I stripped off my clothes and walked in, removing my hair elastic as an afterthought.

Half an hour later, I walked into the Hall, taking deep, relaxing breaths. By habit, I walked towards Fred, who had an empty seat beside him. I stopped with one leg over the bench, though, because all the memories of last night had come rushing back to me in one sudden moment.

"Fred." I said in a somewhat strangled voice, not addressing him or anyone else in the vicinity. I just said it, because the word calmed me down in situations where I felt like I was going to kill someone - usually Umbridge - or myself. But since the word was his name, and he was the situation, it didn't help much. But he looked up at me.

"Hey." he said, his voice devoid of any emotion.

"Fred." I said again, some stupid part of me wondering why the calming-down that usually worked wasn't working. He continued to look at me, eyebrows raised in questioning. I collapsed onto the bench and turned to him in a great amount of trepidation. I wondered if my theory would work - Angie and Katie hadn't seen me sneak a bite of Honeydukes just before I walked in.

"What's up?" he said, still in that horribly blank voice. His eyes looked empty and...lifeless.

"Fred, I'm sorry." my voice was pleading as I searched his eyes for some sign of emotion. He sighed slightly.

"Roxanne-" he began, in a voice that didn't sound like his at all, but I interrupted him - I couldn't stand that he didn't call me Roxy.

"I shouldn't have said what I did." I started. "I don't know why I said it and I didn't mean it and I already miss you and I couldn't sleep till five and I cried for the first time in four years and you're amazing and I love you." I ended breathlessly, surprising even myself.

"What?" his eyes were as wide as dinner plates. I took a deep breath and exhaled, smiling a little sadly.

"I love you, Fred. You're the best friend I've ever had." I said again, this time with more confidence. I thought I saw disappointment flick across his gaze, but I must've imagined it, because the next second he smiled, bringing his thumb up to my mouth. I felt the weird feeling again, like a million butterflies wanted to build a roller coaster inside of me, but pushed it aside.

"I love you too." he said softly, before clearing his throat slightly. "Chocolate." he murmured, grinning widely. "You did it on purpose, didn't you?" I turned faintly pink and took the partly-eaten chocolate bar out of my pocket, handing it to him.

"Nope." I said stoutly, smiling. "Purely coincidence." I ducked my head slightly, before I heard a familiar voice.

"Roxy!" Katie squealed, not five seconds after she sat down. She kicked me hard in the shin.

"OW!" I winced.

"Look, he's here!" she said, gesturing frantically with her head towards the Entrance Hall. I rolled my eyes, sighing.

"Katie, I'm going to see him in the library anyway." I said, turning back to Fred, who had a smear of chocolate on the side of his mouth. Shyly, I lifted up my thumb, grazing his jawline before rubbing gently on the side of his lip, brushing against it as I did so. My thumb lingered on his cheek as I met his gaze, and the butterflies started kicking up a storm. I laughed shakily. "Chocolate." I blurted out, smiling uneasily, before dropping my hand back to my lap.

His eyes showed something more than laughter - almost like he knew exactly what I was thinking, butterflies and all - but he smiled a little and turned back to his plate.

"Roxanne." Ryan's voice was accompanied by a hand on my shoulder, and try as I might to enjoy it, his hand felt controlling, restricting, and it was all I could do not to shrug it off.

"Ryan." I said, smiling slightly as I turned to him.

"Seven, right?" he asked.

"Seven." I confirmed with a tight smile, for what seemed like the hundredth time.

"Right." he said awkwardly, before looking at Fred and sizing him up. "It's Felix, or something, isn't-?" he asked before I interrupted him.

"Fred." I said venomously, still smiling although I was sure that my eyes were still cold. "It's Fred."

"Right." he said again, his hand finally leaving my shoulder as he took a step back. "It's a date, then." he said to me, giving me a wink before walking away to his table.

"Oh, my Merlin!" Katie said, evidently having missed the whole episode because she had been too busy staring at Ryan. "He touched you!" she squealed. "He winked at you! Oh, Roxy, how is it that you managed to not get up and snog him senseless?" she asked rhetorically, sighing. I sighed too, albeit with a very different undertone. I noticed, now, that Fred had stiffened and was relaxing only now. He turned to me abruptly.

"I'm going to ask you something, and you have to make sure that you don't lie to me, alright?" he began, his voice a mere whisper, and I nodded without thinking. "Did you feel it? Just before, with the chocolate -" he gripped my arm and looked straight at me, his head bent downwards and mine tilted towards his to hold his gaze. "Did you feel what I felt?" My vision blurred with uneasy, inexplicable tears, threatening slowly to spill over. Katie was looking at us suspiciously, but I blocked her out, blocked everything out but his fiery hazel eyes. I swallowed past the lump in my throat, breathed deeply, shut my eyes, and nodded.

He swivelled away from me let out a breath that was like a punctured tire, his grip on my arm loosening. I yanked my arm from his grasp and groped shakily for my goblet, downing the pumpkin juice in one gulp and slamming the cup back onto the table. I wiped my mouth with the back of my hand and gasped for breath, coughing slightly. Katie was looking thoroughly perplexed, and opened her mouth to speak, but I beat her to it.

"Transfiguration." I said as some sort of explanation, before grabbing my bag and bolting out of the Hall.

**_~"The laughter penetrates my silence, as drunken men find flaws in science."~_**

"Hey." Ryan murmured as he placed his books gingerly on the table, sitting down across from me.

"Hey, Ryan." I said, looking up at him and trying to ignore the sudden weakness in my knees.

"You've done half the project yourself!" he noted, eyebrows raised. I shrugged halfheartedly.

"Yeah, well...had nothing to do." I said in a small voice, dipping my quill into my inkpot and proceeding to cross a t. He studied me carefully, but didn't question me further, choosing instead to start working on the rest. I sighed inwardly. My day had been hectic, what with my stupid brain refusing to concentrate on any of my classes. I had narrowly escaped a detention with Umbridge, there were a dozen partly vanished mice running around the school, and the fact that Snape had asked us to make Amortentia didn't help things in any way whatsoever.

Throughout Potions, all I had smelt - from the sample cauldron sitting at Snape's front desk - was perfect toast, a slight smoky-woody-scent that reminded me of the fire in the Gryffindor common room, and the inexplicably obvious fragrance of melted chocolate. As a result of this, my cauldron had nearly toppled over onto Fred's. In a moment of weakness, I had asked him what he smelled, and I'd been thinking about it for the rest of the day.

"The Quidditch pitch after rain, fireworks, and..." he'd trailed off, looking at me with a smile that didn't reach his eyes. "Chocolate."

And then he'd gone. How was I supposed to respond to that? So instead I had lingered over my potion, taking a deep, final breath, before vanishing it and continuing to my next class.

"So..." Ryan jolted me out of my thoughts.

"What?" I asked, and it came out harsher than I'd intended. "I mean...sorry. I was..thinking. What were you saying?"

"Erm...well...the project's done." he said awkwardly, gesturing towards it. I nodded absently, rolling it up into a scroll. "I was wondering if..." he trailed off, before clearing his throat again and standing up. "Could I show you something?" he asked suddenly. I hesitated before nodding. It wasn't as if I didn't have my wand with me, or anything. But I was just wondering what could get him so flustered.

"Erm...sure." I said guardedly, standing up as well. He grabbed my hand painfully, not in that perfect way Fred sometimes held it, with our fingers intertwined, but in a rough clench. I bit the inside of my cheek to stop myself from commenting on it, and instead followed where he led me - a dark, dusty row of shelves that I didn't recognize at all. "Ryan, what are you-?"

"Getting to know you." he whispered, and then his lips were on mine again. He wasn't soft or gentle this time, and it hurt. One of his hands were tangled in my hair, pulling at the roots painfully. He stepped on my foot, whether by accident or on purpose I couldn't tell. I kept my lips firmly closed, but he persisted, one of his legs wrapping around mine. His other hand went to my waist, gripping it tightly.

"Ryan!" I managed to say, before he kissed me again, and I realized that I really didn't want to be with him at all. I flicked my arm jerkily, and my wand, hidden up my sleeve, slid down into my hand. I took a breath, pulling away from him, and noted his confused expression before he swooped back down on me again, with the possible intent of gluing our lips together. Idiot couldn't even take a hint. "Impedimenta!" I said desperately, and he went limp, arms releasing their grip on me.

I turned and ran.

I found myself in the Astronomy Tower, huddled in the shadows with my knees to my chest and my arms around them. I was taking deep, shaky breaths, letting the cold wash over me like a bucket of water. I don't like Ryan. What would Katie say? Never mind that, what did I say? "I don't care." I murmured to myself quietly. "I don't care." I repeated, with more emphasis. I didn't come to this school to fawn over boys, I came here to...what?

I sat there, just thinking, for what seemed like hours. What was the point of me being here? To learn? To work hard? All those seemed like such stupid reasons, such Umbridge-y reasons to think of. To live. To love. To just...be. It wasn't often that I thought about the meaning of life, but I usually dismissed the thoughts to go pour ink on someone's head.

I sighed and did something that I used to do in my first year at Beauxbatons, when I couldn't sleep at night - I ran through the list of people that I knew loved me. The list was usually quite small - Beatrice, the caretaker from the orphanage I had grown up in; one, maybe two, friends. I sighed again and started to whisper the names out loud, envisioning them in my head as I went.

"Beatrice." Long, dirty blonde hair tied up in a rough knot at the base of her neck, gesturing to my seven-year-old self with her hands to run over to her and smiling with her green eyes. "Katie." Her small arms around me as I cried my heart out. "Angie." Her tough love, and her refusal to see me mope around. "Lee." His cheery, easygoing demeanor, which masked his fierce loyalty and sense of protection for anyone who was his friend. "George." His brotherly protectiveness, his good humour, and his not-quite-exact resemblance to the last person on my list.

"Fred." My voice broke, and I took another deep breath. "Fred." I said, more strongly. I smiled ruefully, sighing again before leaning against the hard, cold stone wall of the Tower. I would just stay up here for ten more minutes. Ten more minutes...

My eyes opened slowly, unaccustomed to the lack of light. I gasped slightly as a wave of cold washed over me, rubbing my eyes to wake myself up. Where was I? "Astronomy Tower." I breathed, horrified. "Ten more minutes." I muttered venomously, cursing my past self. I brought my watch up to the meagre moonlight shining through a cupola, preparing for the worst.

11:30 PM. "Merlin's pants." I murmured, eyes widening, before running as fast as I could. I thanked Circe that the Astronomy Tower was on the seventh floor, so I only had to make one turn before getting to the portrait of the Fat Lady. "Mimbulus Mimbletonia!" I said as loud as I dared. She woke up rather irritably, eyeing my rumpled hair and on the verge of making an extremely rude comment. I managed to coax her into opening the door before running in.

"Fred!" I said loudly as I scrambled through the portrait hole, running blindly towards our couch. I bumped into him suddenly and wrapped my arms instinctively around his neck before releasing my hold and taking a step back. "Fred." I said, only now it was a sigh of relief. He let out a sigh as well, before gripping my shoulders suddenly.

"Where were you? Do you know how worried we were?" his voice was steel, but I could see relief in his eyes. "What happened to you?" he asked shrewdly. I put my hand reflexively to my hair, which no doubt was disheveled, to say the least.

"Ryan, he-" I paused, noticing his rigidity at the mention of him. I drew in a breath, and decided to be completely honest with him. "We'd finished the assignment, and then all of a sudden he's dragging me behind the bookshelves and I ask him what he's doing and he says he's just getting to know me and he-" I paused again, taking another breath. "He snogged me, Fred, and I hated it, it was just...it wasn't right, so I just ran." I said breathlessly. He was still rigid, but he took a cautious breath before speaking.

"What do you mean, it wasn't right?" he asked guardedly.

"I...I didn't...he wasn't the person that I wanted to kiss." I said eventually, not meeting his gaze. I heard rough, ragged breathing.

"Who...who was it, then?" he said, swallowing. I looked up at him finally, taking in everything. Orange hair, bright hazel eyes, crooked nose, awkward height. I thought about the way one side of his mouth tilted up more than the other when he laughed. I thought about how happy he was when I told him that I could tell the difference between him and George. I thought about his irrational hate of Ryan. I thought about the way he looked when he told me that he loved me too. By way of answer, I hooked my arms around his neck and met his lips, open in surprise, with mine.

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**A/N: Yay cliffhanger! This chapter is a little shorter than the last, but I hope you guys liked it! I'll update as soon as I can, promise. :) Reviews are barbecue chicken (or barbecue tofu if you're vegetarian.) and Ranch dressing 3 Thank you so much to all of my followers, you are awesome people.**

**Song credits: Two Way Street - Kimbra, You Oughta Know, Alanis Morrisette (That's the italics part), The One that Got Away - The Civil Wars, Set the Fire to the Third Bar - Snow Patrol ft. Martha Wainwright.**


	5. Hogs and Kisses

**A/N:Yes, it's here! Woohoo! Well, it's been a while. Go on, start reading. **

**.: Disclaimer :. I don't own Harry Potter, but Roxanne belongs to me.**

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_**~"You say that you care, I was unaware."~**_

"Morning." Katie said brightly. I smiled shakily, moving in a trance to the table and sitting down next to her. She looked at me weirdly, because I usually sat across from her and next to Fred. What she didn't know was that there was no way I would be able to sit next to Fred without doing something that I was going to regret. Like that stupid kiss. Well, actually, it wasn't stupid at all, really. It was rather enjoyable. But then again, my brain had to go and force me to run up to the girls' dorms for no apparent reason.

"Hi." I said, reaching desperately for the toast. I grabbed six slices and started on the butter, trying to keep my heartbeat at a normal pace. All that was going through my head was you kissed him you kissed him you kissed him. It was driving me crazy, and I was glad that Katie didn't attempt to make conversation. I had told her through my magically-shut hangings that the date hadn't gone well and Ryan was a git, and she thankfully didn't question me further.

Apparently, she trusted my judgement. Ha.

"Hey."

One word. That's all it bloody took for all my bodily functions to cease. Because Fred Weasley was sitting next to me. And yes, on a normal day, I wouldn't be unfazed in the least, but this was not a normal day in any way whatsoever. So I did the rational thing - started guzzling down my toast in a manner that compared eating to breathing in terms of apparent necessity.

"Are you alright?" he asked, with that half-smile that made a faint dimple on his left cheek and his laughing hazel eyes and his hair that was messed up in just the right way and- Merlin. I managed a nod before starting on the third slice. I would avoid conversation at all costs. What infuriated me though, was the fact that he was just sitting there like nothing had happened, like I hadn't bloody kissed him and then run away like an absolute romantically-neglected lunatic.

"Roxy." he said, leaning in to meet my gaze. Cue heart skipping a beat. Wow. The Beauxbatons girls would be proud. "Are you sure you're okay?" I chewed slowly, swallowed, washed the slice down with some pumpkin juice, and steeled myself.

"Yes." I said primly. "Yes, I am perfectly fine." the fact that I was digging my fingernails into my palms in order to stop myself from declaring my fascination with that dimple on his left cheek was of no relevance. "I'm fine." I repeated, trying not to sound like I was convincing myself.

"Roxy." he said again. For Agrippa's sake, stupid heart. Keep bloody beating, if you please. I forced myself to look at him. His voice dropped to a whisper. "I didn't tell anyone, if that's what you're worried about." he said hesitantly, looking straight at me. I shook my head slightly, not meeting his eyes. "Then what is it?"

I couldn't tell him. Why would I tell him? What would I tell him? 'Oh, yeah, just so you know, um, you're a bloody amazing kisser and I'd like to make it a habit.' Pssh. Honestly, you'd think from all the romantic novels that Katie and occasionally Angie fawned over, that after kissing a bloke, it was happily ever after, but no, it had to be awkward for eternity instead.

"Nothing." I said sarcastically, putting up my last wall of defense in the form of nastiness. "Nothing at all. I am positively shining in my enthusiasm for the day to last as long as possible." I said acidly, reaching for my pumpkin juice only to find it blocked by Fred's hand. Fred's hand that had been tangled deep in my hair last night, his thumb caressing my cheek softly as his other hand wrapped around my waist, pulling me closer- "What are you doing?" I said sharply, jolting myself out of my reverie and trying to pry his fingers off of the goblet with minimal contact.

"I wouldn't if I were you." he said, eyebrows raised in affrontedness. "Seems like someone's slipped goblin piss into your drink. I mean, that's the only way you can be this unlike yourself. Come on, Roxy." Stupid heart. Skipping beats for no reason whatsoever. "What's wrong?" he asked softly, doing that thing with his eyes where it felt like he could see exactly what I was thinking.

My left hand snaked up to my neck, circling it awkwardly. I looked down at my shoes, unable to hold the intensity of his gaze. My hair fell over my eyes as I ducked my head, for which I was thankful, because I got to drop my composure for a second and let out a sort of choked sob.

"Nothing." I said again, more firmly, but Fred sighed exasperatedly and grabbed my wrist - which was unfortunate, because he could probably feel my pulse; now, instead of skipping beats, it was going at the rate of a terrified rabbit.

"Should I have...not kissed you back or something?" he enquired awkwardly, leaning in close to ask the question so that no one else would hear.

"No, no, that's -" I took in a surprised breath at my sudden, apparently involuntary desire to reveal information. "That's definitely not the problem." I said shakily. My spasmodic mouth decided to form a jerky grin, before I continued.

"No. No, it- it wasn't you, it's just I-" I paused again as my eyes darted to the Entrance Hall - Ryan was walking in. "I came back from a date with Ryan and I ended up kissing you instead and I...I quite liked it, but I don't-" he was making his way to the Ravenclaw table, but carefully scanning the Gryffindor one as he went. I gave it thirty seconds before he spotted me and walked over. Deciding to make it quick, I breathed deeply. "I really, really, like you, and I was wondering if you wanted to go to Hogsmeade with me."

"Erm." said Fred, looking at me like the words were still entering his brain. "Yeah. I'd- I'd like that." I was blushing furiously, but I still managed to grin at his dumbfounded face before I heard a voice behind me that made the smile drop from my face as easily as Stinksap.

"Roxanne." Ryan said sheepishly. I turned around, eyebrows raised. "Could I talk to you for a second?" I glanced at him questioningly, and he caught the hint. "Just talk. I promise." I let go of Fred's hand - I hadn't realized that I'd been holding it - and got up, and he led me out into the Entrance Hall.

"I'm sorry." I said, before he could say anything. "I really am. But you didn't ask me whether I was okay with it and I'm not...used to that sort of thing and I really don't think we'd ever work out."

"Right." he said, absorbing the information. Then, to my surprise, he smiled. "One of my mates told me that birds love that sort of thing. Just snatch them up and snog them. It was stupid to listen to him, I know, but...it was my first ever sort of...date, I guess, and I got nervous. I'm sorry too. I'm probably a horrible snog, aren't I?" he said ruefully, hands in the pockets of his robes.

"Well, I-" I hesitated before deciding to just tell the truth. "I wasn't really paying attention...to be honest I was concentrating more on getting out of the library." I said wryly, before realizing my mistake. "Merlin, that was rude of me. I'm really sorry." I said profusely, wondering what on Earth was wrong with me.

"Don't be." he smiled, and I had the feeling it was genuine. "Just, erm...I-" he paused. "I still like you. So, erm...anytime you're free, I'd-" he paused again, before continuing valiantly. "I'd like to try again."

I was frankly left speechless. The Ryan who was talking to me right now was a nice, friendly Ryan, as opposed to the absolute git Ryan from last night. I wondered briefly if it was someone else under Polyjuice, but dismissed the idea as the worst case scenario.

"I really would like to say yes, Ryan, but.." I paused as well, pursing my lips for a brief moment before swallowing. "I kind of maybe just succeeded in asking out the bloke I like this morning, so, erm...well..." I trailed off, feeling horrible. When I looked up, his smile had reduced in size, but it was definitely still there.

"Friends then?" he asked jauntily, sticking out his hand.

"Erm, yeah." I said, nodding and taking his hand. "Thanks, Ryan. Erm, I've...got to go back to my toast, so.." I dropped his hand and we walked back into the Hall, with me still feeling like an absolute bitch. "I really am...sorry." I said in a small voice as I was about to go to my seat. He nodded in acknowledgement before walking back to the Ravenclaw Table.

"What did he want?" Fred said harshly, and I couldn't help but laugh. Of course, uncontrollable-mouth-monster had to strike again.

"Merlin, Fred - a promise of one date and you're already jealous of every other bloke?" I said laughingly, before bringing my hand up to my mouth in shock at what I had just said. And to stop anything else of the sort from being blurted out.

"Yeah." he said easily, allowing a half-smile to spread across his face. "Yeah, I am." I chuckled uneasily, but he seemed serious. "No, really. What did he want?"

"He said that his mate persuaded him into doing the snatch-and-snog thing, said that birds went crazy over it." I said, suppressing a grin. "Said that he'd like to try again if I was willing, but..." I paused for effect, wondering somewhere in the back of my mind how I got these random surges of bravery. "I said I was...otherwise occupied." I finished, my eyes meeting his as my hand slid shyly across to interlace our fingers.

"Ahem."

Katie's rather annoyed voice startled me, and I looked at her with no little amount of foreboding.

"You can't just start going out and not tell me!" she said indignantly. Apparently we weren't keeping our voices down very much. George had settled across from us and he gave me a knowing wink, while Angelina lolled against him and was grinning mischievously.

"Sorry?" I said hesitantly, turning left so I could face her. As much as she tried to look angry, she was suppressing a grin as well, and something told me that I was probably as red as Fred's hair. She finally grinned fully, and gave me a pinch in the side.

"So this is what you were shut up in your bed about the whole night yesterday?" she asked mockingly, and then suddenly we were all laughing, Fred's hand still interlaced with mine, my face still tomato-red, and Fred's ears tinged with pink. "Great." she said suddenly, looking over at all of us. "I'm the fifth wheel now." she pouted, but she was shouted down by all of us, reassuring her that we would refrain from public displays of affection. And merrily, giddily, clutching Fred's hand like a lifeline, I walked into Potions.

It's amazing how quickly one's mood can drop.

I sat next to Fred shyly - why, I didn't know, because I sat with him in every class. I expect it was a bit different, though, what with, well... - and took out my ingredients for the potion on the board.

"Draught of Peace." Snape said curtly. "You have thirty minutes." I restrained a groan. I liked Potions, but I had next to no experience with potions that had positive effects. Durmstrang focused mainly on the Dark Arts, and I was an expert with poisons. "Most of you-" his gaze lingered on me. "Have already prepared this potion in your fifth year. However, if my memory is correct, nearly all of you earned a D during that disaster." He slunk around the room like a swooping bat, occasionally peering down at a Gryffindor and making a cutting remark.

I powdered my porcupine quills slowly, grinding them and keeping an eye on the salamander slime base that I was bringing to a boil in my cauldron.

"Too coarse." Snape said shortly as he passed me, and I sighed before continuing to pound the quills with my pestle until they were the texture of talc. I sprinkled them into the cauldron, tapping it with my wand to keep the temperature constant before pouring in some powdered unicorn horn, which I kept pre-ground to reduce working time. Stirring absentmindedly but determined not to make mistakes, I caught Fred's eye. He was fuming at his potion, which was turning steadily green, and at Snape's latest remark - "Tell me, Mr. Weasley, does this look turquoise to you?"

I bit my lip and glanced at the shadow of the professor, who was lingering among the Hufflepuffs' cauldrons. He was about as far away as possible. I leaned over as far as I could and gave his potion a quick anticlockwise stir and breathed a sigh of relief when it turned a bright shade of blue-green. I sprinkled in a pinch of unicorn horn and stirred again, clockwise this time. He was looking at me in intent surprise, but I ignored him, stirring my potion with my left hand and dashing in a handful of porcupine quills as fast as I could.

I stirred clockwise frantically, and grabbed my wand, tapping both cauldrons so that the temperature lowered, inclining my head towards the syrup of hellebore on his table before returning to mine. I poured in three sparing drops before looking at Fred, and he did the same. Both our potions glowed with a turquoise hue. I breathed another relieved sigh when the bell rang, corking a sample of my potion and offering to take Fred's as well. He nodded gratefully and handed it to me, and I walked up to Snape's desk in no little amount of trepidation.

"Five points from Gryffindor." he said matter-of-factly, as soon as he saw Fred's vial. "I am sure that Mr. Weasley can do his own work in the future." Shocked into silence, I nodded tremulously and left as fast as I could.

"You alright?" Fred asked as he caught up with me, and my breath hitched in my throat as his hand slid neatly into mine.

"Am now." I said, walking alongside him. "Snape's a git. We've got a free now, right?" I asked absently as we strolled down a corridor. He nodded. "Grounds?" I asked, not bothering for full sentences. I briefly caught Linda's eye as she stormed out of the classroom, and didn't even bother rolling my eyes when she glared at me menacingly.

"Grounds." he affirmed, and we walked out of the Entrance Hall into the lawns. I pulled him over to a tree by the lake, and we sat by the banks, skipping stones. "That's five." he bragged.

"Shut it, you prat, that was barely three and a half." I said dismissively.

"You know, I pity your horrible eyesight. It was very nearly six." I laughed at his reply and chucked one, and giving an appreciative whoop when I got to seven before the stone disappeared underneath the ripples.

"What's the Squid like?" I asked, my head lolling on his shoulder. We were sitting so that his back was against the tree, and my back was against his, our legs spread out and shoes kicked off. I tentatively played with the end of his tie, long since loosened.

"S'alright." he said lazily. "It'll eat anything even slightly edible. Hagrid says his name is Bobby." I snorted at that, and then we were both laughing for what seemed like hours. When we stopped momentarily, we only had to say "Bobby", and we were off again. When I finally recovered and my breathing slowed, I leaned back on him, making a small sigh of contentment.

"This is still incredibly awkward, you know." I said shyly, undoing the many knots I had made in his tie for no reason.

"Doesn't matter." he said, his arms coming around to circle my waist. I felt the pressure of his lips just above my hairline and I smiled involuntarily, blushing again. "What've we got after this?" he asked.

"McGonagall." I said, throwing another stone. It only reached three before a tentacle reached out to grab it and yank it underneath the dark green surface. "But we've got fifteen minutes." I added hastily, not wanting to leave any time soon.

"I'm not going anywhere." he laughed, and I shifted closer to him until there was no space between us. I turned my head and aimed for a kiss on his cheek, but he seemed to sense what I was doing and turned so that we kissed chastely on the lips. My hands snaked up towards his neck and I made some sort of noise in the back of my throat. Merlin. He was bloody amazing. I broke away gently, eyes still closed, and he pulled me close until my nose touched the crook of his neck. I inhaled deeply, revelling in that heady woodsmoke scent.

"Merlin." I didn't realize I'd said it out loud this until I heard him.

"Merlin what?" he asked, a hint of a smile in his voice. I pressed a small kiss to just underneath his ear.

"Merlin, you're perfect." I said, burying myself in the crook of his neck and letting my hands run through his hair softly. He laughed slightly.

"If you say so." he said, and I could hear his grin. "C'mon, McGonagall's gonna flay us alive if we're late." he pushed me off of him and offered me a hand as he stood up. I took it and was hauled up, before I leaned upwards to give him another kiss. My hands went back to his hair, with his at my back, and even though it only lasted a minute, it could've lasted an hour for the amount of happiness it gave me. That was probably the only thing that got me through Transfiguration, where we got a five-foot essay as homework, and Defence, Umbridge's lair.

"Five points from Gryffindor, Mr. Weasley." she said sweetly, pointing her wand at Fred so that everyone would know exactly which of the twins she was taking points from this time. George held back a retort as Fred raised his eyebrows in question. "When I say 'read Chapter 5', Mr. Weasley, I do not mean 'open your books to Chapter 5 and stare around the classroom without turning one page in forty-five minutes'." she concluded in honeyed tones.

I bit my tongue to stop myself from saying anything, instead subtly pressing on his foot to stop him from doing the same. Instead, he held her gaze for a full minute before going back to his book for the meagre amount of time left for the class to end, still resolutely refusing to turn the page. "Ten more points, Mr. Weasley." she sang as the bell rang and we swept out of the classroom.

George gave him a reassuring pat . I slipped my fingers through his again, leading him towards the common room. "She's-" I started angrily, but he interrupted me.

"Doesn't matter." he sounded resigned to the fact that Umbridge was a horrible human being as he clasped my hand more firmly.

We had barely sat down on the couch when Angie came rushing up to us, flushed and eyes wide.

"Have you heard?" she asked excitedly, and I sat up questioningly. "Hermione says Harry's going to teach us Defence. Not the rubbish that Umbridge is teaching us. Real spells. Says if You-Know-Who's back, then we've got to know what we're up against, and how to fight it. Anyone who's interested is supposed to meet at the Hog's Head at one tomorrow." she sounded like she was definitely one of the people going. "You're coming, aren't you?" she asked expectantly. I nodded firmly, and after a moment's hesitation, Fred did too. "Right, I'll go tell Hermione."

"Real spells." I said wistfully. "I can't wait."

"I dunno." Fred said halfheartedly. "We'll get caught eventually." I looked at him with an expression akin to horror.

"Did you just say what I think you said?" I asked incredulously. "You care about getting caught?"

"I wouldn't usually." he said, trying to explain. "But you know where she came from, this is the Ministry we're talking about. Who knows what they could do." he looked at me, before reluctantly continuing. "Word is, Fudge thinks Dumbledore's building up an army of offense to overthrow him. It's stupid, but it's the only alternative to thinking that Voldemort's back." I nodded unflinchingly, refusing to be bothered by a name.

"It is stupid." I agreed. "But even if he does think so, I'd rather learn how to fight and get punished, than be as ignorant as everyone else. Voldemort's going to come out into the open eventually, whether we're prepared or not."

**_~"Who made you king of anything?"~_**

"Right, then." I said as briskly as I could manage as I walked down the steps leading to the Entrance Hall, at the foot of which Fred stood. "Erm...you're ready then?" my voice was shaking with excitement and embarrassment and I didn't even know what else. He nodded, taking in my appearance.

"You look great." he said, smiling at me as I joined him, and I leaned in to kiss him on the cheek before I grabbed his hand and we started walking. It was going to take longer than ever to get accustomed to this sort of thing - his compliment sent a warm feeling radiating through me, and I was still surprised at how easily our hands fit together. I really wasn't wearing anything special - a fitted green v-neck sweater, a pair of dark blue jeans, and brown winter boots, with the Gryffindor scarf slung lazily around my shoulders. My hair was out and curly, cascading down my back and topped with a dark grey beanie.

"So I was thinking..." I said tentatively as we walked. "That we could spend maybe two or three hours together and then meet the gang at Zonko's at twelve. That way there'll be an hour to browse and-" I nudged him cheerily. "Try and see what your joke shop's gonna look like before we go to the Hog's Head." he laughed, a strong, steady laugh, before letting go of my hand and putting his arm around my shoulder.

"So, d'you want to go to Scrougler's?" he asked, and I gave him a puzzled look.

"I've never been here before, Fred. I don't know what that is."

"Record store." he said, smiling, and I grinned. "Magical and Muggle music. They've got Hate Potion, Ellie and the Cauldrons, the Beatles, Alanis Morissette, everything. They've got the Weird Sisters too, but, you know, that's for people that don't listen to real music." he said jokingly, pulling me along. I took my hand out of my pocket and wrapped it around his waist, before we walked into a dusty looking store with grimy windows and "Scrougler's Record Store" written in block letters on a peeling sign above the door. He pushed the door open for me and I stuck my tongue out at him over my shoulder as I walked in hesitantly.

We spent an hour there, browsing racks and racks of records and trying them out on the gramophone in the center. Apart from the owner, a tired old man named Stuart with dusty glasses that had to be repeatedly pushed up his crooked nose, we were the only ones in the store, so no one minded. I was changing the record to 'I Want To Hold Your Hand' when he came up behind me and put his arms around my waist, pressing a kiss to my neck - oh, sure, like I wasn't blushing enough already. My breath hitched in my throat, warmth radiating from the place his lips met my skin.

"You're beautiful, you know that?" he whispered, his breath tickling my throat and making me dizzy. I swallowed, aware that my breathing was uneven. The record began to play softly, and he sang along, his mouth a millimetre away from my ear. "Oh, yeah, I'll tell you something, I think you'll understand." He let go of me only to grab my hand and spin me around and pull me close to him again, one hand around my waist and one clutching mine, moving to the beat and singing off-key. And in that moment, when we danced to a Beatles song in the middle of a grimy abandoned record store, I felt perfect.

"Where to?" I asked as we walked out of the store half an hour later. Fred glanced at his watch and shrugged.

"We've got another half an hour. Want a drink?" he asked, and I let him lead me to the Three Broomsticks, where we got a corner booth and sat next to each other. We ordered two hot Butterbeers and sipped them quietly, my head snuggled into Fred's neck, my feet up and curled into my thighs, and the hot, buttery, mildly dizzying flavor of the drink gradually thawing my frozen toes and fingers. "You know," he said steadily as he placed his empty glass on the table next to mine. "I think I love you."

Cue heart to start beating like a frightened rabbit's. Oh, yeah, and breathing? Pssh. Unnecessary. I was frozen, bright red, and his words were bouncing around my apparently empty head. I felt like I was trapped in a bloody full body-bind curse. After about two minutes of excruciating silence, my brain started working again, and I looked straight at him. "Did you mean that?" I asked seriously, my eyes focused on his. He looked confused.

"Yeah." he said simply. And then I was kissing him, just him, inhaling that aroma of his that was like thirty shots of alcohol in one second, my hands tangled in his hair, his lips tasting of Butterbeer. When I came up for air, we were both flushed - his response had been rather enthusiastic - and I was grinning, my breath still uneven.

"I love you too." I said breathlessly, ducking my head and looking up at him from underneath my eyelashes. "I really do." He looked like he was about to kiss me again, but the clock on the wall caught his eye.

"It's twelve." he said, and I nodded.

"Right." neither of us moved. A smile pulled at the corner of my mouth, and I leaned forward for one last chaste kiss before I slid out of the booth, pulling him out by the hand. We spent another hour in Zonko's with everyone buying useless, idiotic, stupid things for the most part, while Fred showed me all the things he was planning on adapting and improving.

"See, they're mainly targeting students, but not in the right way. There's only pranks you can play on friends and things. Skiving Snackboxes are all about the student-pranking-teacher aspect of it. And I mean, with people like Umbridge-"

"That's just what we need." George completed, grinning. "Right, then, it's almost one. We should get going." We nodded, handing our numerous bags to the cashier while we dug out our coin bags to pay up. The cashier looked at us dubiously, like he was wondering how many pranks six kids could play in one day, but he rung everything up and soon we were hefting the bags towards the Hog's Head.

I hesitated before walking in after everyone. I had a feeling that if I did, there was no backing out. Pushing open the door would mean that I was committed to getting rid of Umbridge and knowing how to defend myself in the real world. I looked up at the clouds, a dark, stormy grey. The real world. Where Voldemort and all his followers waited, determined to make the Wizarding World "pure". I scoffed at that. Pure. As if bloodline mattered. I reached up to my neck and fiddled with the necklace hanging from it. Apparently, it had been round my neck when the orphanage found me. The Muggle orphanage. My parents were Muggles. Probably. But that didn't make me a better or worse witch.

The door opened in front of me, and Fred peeked out. "You coming?" he asked concernedly. I smiled, now sure of my answer.

"Yeah." I nodded, walking in.

* * *

**A/N: Hello again! Hope you liked it, it was a tad bit short, but I'm happy with it. Rate, and follow sil-vous-plait! Reviews are homemade cinnamon toast. Let me know what you think! **

**-K**

**Song credits: Unaware - Allen Stone, King of Anything - Sara Bareilles**


	6. Weasley May or May Not Be Our King

**.: Disclaimer :. I don't own Harry Potter, but Roxanne belongs to me.**

* * *

_**~"She sings a simple song that sounds a lot like his."~**_

The next two weeks were the best of my life. Dumbledore's Army was like a secret, a tiny little secret that kept anyone from screaming their lungs out at Umbridge, or pummeling her and her Educational Decrees in the face. Evenings in the common room were spent practising jinxes and hexes and counter-curses and every other type of spell that could be classified as self-defense. These not-so-secret practising sessions would run late into the night, which was the reason that when some intuition woke me up on the morning of the Quidditch match before sunrise, I was quite irked.

"You alright?" I murmured concernedly, rubbing the sleep from my eyes as I rolled out of bed. It was four AM. Angelina was sitting completely upright on her bed, already dressed in her robes and had her broom in her hands - Angie's was the one broom that she refused to keep in the broom closet in the changing rooms. Her eyes were staring at the inscription engraved down the side, a saying she had written herself: _Losing is not an option_. I'd heard it many times, but it was the motto that she lived by. She was staring at the words, roughly etched back in her second year, apparently, as if trying to extract some meaning from them. When she heard my voice, she looked slowly up at me, but I could tell that she was unfocused.

"I don't know." she said simply, and that was what surprised me. Even when she was desperate for someone to talk to, she always tried to hide it behind a "no, I'm fine", or a snappy retort. To see her now, distraught to the point of brutal honesty, was a tad scary. I walked over to her, sitting cross-legged in front of her on the bed. She looked at me helplessly, running a hand through her cornrows. "It's my first match." she said, suddenly slumping against her headboard. "My first match as a Captain. I have no clue what I'm doing." she breathed, her broom rolling out of her hands and onto the rumpled bedcovers.

"Look, Angie." I sighed, still sleepy. I picked up her broom and pushed it back towards her, closing her fingers over the top of the handle but keeping my fingers rested on hers. "You're an _excellent_ captain. Believe me. We'll _kill_ this game. Slytherin doesn't stand a chance. But if you don't get some rest and keep staring at your broom for four hours (the match started at eight), you won't be able to stay awake on the pitch. We need you wide awake." It wasn't much of a pep talk at all, but it was all I could manage with my head spinning and the bundle of my own nerves in my stomach. She nodded, though, and even attempted a smile.

"Right." she murmured, and she slid underneath her covers, boots and all. Within a minute she was asleep. Easy for her - now _I_ was wide awake. I sighed and walked into the lavatory.

Fifteen minutes later I was out, dressed in normal uniform save my favorite jeans and my brand-new Quidditch sweater - red with a golden-yellow band down the middle. It was quite snug, I thought as I rolled up the turtleneck and wound my hair into a tight high ponytail. My robes and broom would be down in the changing rooms. I sighed again - who wanted to be ready for a match at four fifteen in the morning? Cautiously, being careful not to wake Katie, I opened the dorm door, creeping down the stairs.

"Ron?" I asked incredulously. Honestly. Two distraught Quidditch players in the same hour. He was sitting on the couch, head in hands. His Keeper's helmet was lying on the couch, a leather thing with straps that connected around his chin. It looked more like a bonnet than anything, but I decided not to comment. "Ron." I said again, walking over to him and sitting down beside him. He looked up, and I saw that his eyes were wet, his face smeared with tears. It was uncomfortable, and awkward, and I didn't know what to do. I doubted that anyone save his family had seen him cry before, not even Harry or Hermione. I, as an outsider who only knew him because we shared the same house, would've probably been his last choice. I watched in silence as several emotions flitted across his face: puzzlement, recognition, embarrassment, humiliation, and then anger.

"What?" he said harshly, the effect quite ruined by the fact that he was still crying. I knew from experience that it would be pure idiocy to put my arm on his shoulder and try to comfort him as if I knew him well. I hated it when people who didn't know me did that to me. I did the natural thing and shrugged.

"Couldn't sleep." I said, hiking my legs up and wrapping my arms around my knees. I glanced at him to see if he believed me. He looked convinced enough, so I started talking. "My first Quidditch match was when I was fourteen. A lot later than most people. Durmstrang. I played Beater - they were testing out what position I could be good at. Two minutes in, a Bludger was coming in my direction and there was a Chaser from the opposite team near me, holding the Quaffle. If I wanted to, I could knock him off his broom. So I swung the bat." I paused to laugh drily. "The bat broke. Bludger hit me in the ribs. I couldn't breathe for a full minute. Passed out and fell off my broom. I woke up with the whole team laughing at me, telling me to get up. I was still on the pitch. Some of the broken ribs penetrated my skin. My whole middle was on fire, and they were _laughing_ at me. I know nothing like that could ever happen here, but...I still have nightmares." I let out an involuntarily choked sob. I could still feel the unbearable pain, like my bones were being welded together, and the ice-cold dew on the grass slowly soaking into the back of my robes. "So, yeah." I said as matter-of-factly as I could manage. "Couldn't sleep." I gave him a fleeting smile before getting up. "Think I'll go down to the kitchens. Want something?"

"Erm, no, I'm...I'm fine." he said, looking at me with something that might've been wonderment. I smiled again, warmly, comfortingly, before scrambling out of the portrait hole.

The elves were happy to see me - they were generally happy to see anyone - and Dobby invited me to supervise the toasting of the six loaves of bread that they prepared every day. Surprisingly, they turned out perfect. "Fred's been here, hasn't he?" I asked quietly, and one of them, a shy thing with a nose a bit smaller than the others, nodded timidly. I asked for a bite to eat, and was immediately laden with dish upon dish of breakfast items. Toast and bacon and butter and cheese and potatoes (who ate potatoes for breakfast, I'd never know, but I shrugged it off), and goblet upon goblet of every juice flavor imaginable - they had tomato juice. Who on Earth drank _tomato_ juice? Surprisingly, it tasted alright.

Even when I dozed off, my hair millimetres away from a baked potato, I wasn't bothered until three hours later, when Dobby thought it wise to wake me. "Thanks, Dobs." I gave him a warm smile before sleepily getting up, snagging another slice of toast, and walking out of the portrait that served as the kitchen door.

"Roxy?"

I bumped straight into Fred and nearly fell, but he caught me at the last second, laughter in his eyes. "What are you doing here?" he asked, smiling and still not having let go of my waist.

"I was hungry." I mumbled, my eyesight hazy as I rubbed the sleep from my eyes. "Is Ron alright?" I asked, because Fred must've seen him on his way out of the common room.

"Didn't see him." he gave me a weird look as I turned and steered him towards a staircase that would take us straight to the Entrance Hall. "He wasn't in the common room. Why, did you talk to him?" I made a noncommittal noise of assent in my throat as my hand unwrapped his arm from around me and entwined his hand in mine.

"Sort of." I said as we headed for the table. Barely anyone was around, but I caught Linda's glare a mile away. "He seemed nervous, so I told him about my first Quidditch match."

"The ribs?" he asked humorously, and I nodded as I grabbed more toast. I really was an idiotic glutton. "How did they finally get healed, again?" he asked, piling sausages onto his plate.

"I dragged myself to the Hospital Wing." I said, sneaking a bacon rasher and cramming the whole thing into my mouth. I chewed and swallowed before continuing. "The matron took care of it, but she was sneering at me the whole time. Said that weaklings like me were the reason Durmstrang doesn't take in many girls. I wasn't allowed to skip any classes. Wasn't even allowed to lie down. Just bandaged it and told me to run along." I laughed hollowly. "I could barely _walk_." Fred looked at me in wonderment.

"When I was little, I always wanted to go to Durmstrang." he laughed sardonically. "What with four-am wake up calls and your own Quidditch team not caring about broken _ribs_, I'm rethinking it a bit." I laughed, heartily this time.

"Well, if you _do_ decide to go, give the headmaster a slap upside the head from me." I said, reaching for more bacon. Nervousness apparently meant hunger for me.

"Are you alright?" he asked suddenly, and the tone of his voice made me look up. "For the match, I mean. Because we're going to do great. Ron'll pull through. And the Slytherins don't hold a candle to us." I rolled my eyes and smiled good-naturedly at him, putting a hand on his arm. I was lucky that acting was an elective at Beauxbatons.

"Fred." I said exasperatedly. "I'll be fine. I'd be more worried about your brother, if I were you." I gestured with my fork to Ron, who had just been nothing short of forcibly dragged into the Hall by Harry. As the Slytherins started laughing uproariously, my eyes narrowed. "What are those?" I asked suspiciously, pointing my fork again, but this time towards the crown-shaped silver badges that adorned every single Slytherin at the table. I frowned as I caught a glimpse of a W engraved on it, but I couldn't catch anything else from this far away. "What are they?" I asked again, looking at Fred to see if he knew.

"Dunno." he looked calm, but I could tell that just underneath the layer of indifference he projected lay a lot of anger and a whole lot more suspicion. "Badges of some sort. I don't like this. The last time they wore badges, it was last year - those Potter Stinks ones." I didn't like it either, but I was sure that whatever it was, it wasn't illegal. The Slytherins wouldn't risk something like that on the match that would decide whether they would move on to play the Ravenclaws. Would they?

"It'll be fine." I said, my voice sounding more confident than I was. I strongly suspected that the badges had something to do with Ron - he was the only one on our team that would get affected by something like a badge. "It'll be fine." I repeated. "C'mon, let's get to the changing rooms." I spotted Angie peeking into the Hall as if deciding whether it was worth it to come in or not, before she nervously walked away. I grabbed a waffle, wrapped it in a napkin, and stuffed it into my jeans pocket - she couldn't commandeer a match with absolutely no food inside of her.

When we reached the rooms, I walked straight up to Angie and placed it in her hands, announcing that I would be standing vigil until she took a bite. She looked at me reproachfully, but lifted the sugared waffle to her mouth.

"No one's going to take me seriously if I have icing sugar all over my mouth." she whined. I handed her the napkin smugly, and then walked over to the broom closet, grabbing the keys from the hook. When I reached Ron and was about to hand him his Cleansweep, I noted that he was arbitrarily buttoning his robes up back to front. I sighed with more exasperation than pity and helped him put them on right. He said nothing, just stared off into nothingness. I would've worried if it weren't for the fact that this was what he was always like before Quidditch. I patted him awkwardly on the shoulder and pushed his broom into his hands before walking back to my spot on the bench, where I clambered into my own robes, sat down, and held my own broom close like a lifeline. The nerves were catching up to me. Angie pulled out a scrap of parchment from her front pocket and consulted it.

"Right, I've only just found out the final line-up for Slytherin." we all perked up, the chatter usually present in the room suddenly gone. "Last year's Beaters, Derrick and Bole, have left, but it looks as though Montague's replaced them with the usual gorillas, rather than anyone who can fly particularly well." she stopped to smile and Fred and George fleetingly. "They're two blokes called Crabbe and Goyle, I don't know much about them-"

"We do." Harry and Ron said in unison. I was slightly encouraged by the fact that Ron was able to formulate speech, but after that, he ducked his head and his ears turned red like he was embarrassed to have been caught speaking.

"Well, they don't look bright enough to tell one end of a broom from the other, but then I was always surprised Derrick and Bole managed to find their way onto the pitch without signposts." Angie said snarkily, but the sudden rise in voices outside made her trail off nervously. She sat down, and the whole team stayed in silence for the next ten minutes. I was clutching my broom handle with one hand and Katie's shoulder with the other. She gave me an encouraging smile, but I didn't respond until Angie checked her watch for the sixth time. "It's time." her voice was hushed and hoarse. "C'mon everyone...good luck." We stood up together, all seven of us. I caught Fred's eye and he nodded. While everyone walked outside, we hung back.

"Ready?" he asked, gripping my hand. I nodded jerkily. "You'll do great." he leaned forward, dropping a chaste kiss on my cheek. I was sure that I was as red as my robes, but I managed a small smile.

"Hope so."

And we walked out onto the pitch.

_**~"More than anything I want to see you go take a glorious bite out of the whole world."~**_

"Fred!" I yelled, chasing after him. He didn't listen, continuing his mutinous stomp away from the grounds. He was heading for the forest, which should've scared me, but I _had been_ a Durmstrang student. I ran determinedly, catching up to him as fast as I could. My hand closed on his shoulder and I expected him to stop, but he shrugged it off and kept walking. "Where are you going?" I asked desperately, barely a metre behind him. "Fred, please stop. Please, just listen, _please_, listen to me!" I was pleading now, tears of anger and shame weaving tracks down my face, grimy with perspiration and dust from the match, but he didn't listen.

I followed him closely - he didn't seem to want to be touched - for what seemed to be ten whole minutes, weaving through trees and bushes and walls of thickly woven vines. He didn't say a word the whole time, didn't turn around to see if I was still following. But when he reached a particular tree, he climbed it and I followed him, scrambling up the boughs and abandoning my Quidditch robes when they caught on a branch. I hoisted myself up onto the same fork in the tree and straddled it, facing him and cupping my hands around his face to force him to look at me. His eyes were bright, hazel, and wet, humiliation and embarrassment shining out from them. I didn't say anything, just met his lips with mine briefly, to which he was unresponsive. I put my arms around his neck and leant against him sorrowfully as he continued his silent, muffled crying. "Malfoy's a -" I started, but I could feel him shaking his head.

"I know that already." he said, and his voice resonated where my ear rested on his neck. "He's a git, he's a spoiled brat, no one likes him, forget him - so what? It's what he says that hurts. And it really _does_ hurt, Roxy." his voice was slow and sorrowful and lacking in even a scintilla of humour. "My dad-" his voice broke. "My dad's happy where he is. Our house is big _enough._ Just because there's not fifty rooms for every person - and it doesn't bloody _stink_!" he said loudly, angrily, and I clutched him tighter, scooting closer and hooking my legs around his back. "We're poor, yeah, so what? So sometimes I wish we weren't. But that's fine! That's perfectly fine!" he sounded like he was trying to convince himself, but I believed him. It hurt, it bloody _hurt_ that I couldn't do anything, couldn't say anything to help him.

"Fred!" It was George, and at the sound of his voice, Fred looked up hopefully. I breathed an inaudible sigh of relief. It wasn't me that was needed here. He needed someone that knew him inside out. I gave him another kiss - with still no response - before climbing slowly down the tree. I was crying by the time I reached the ground. George studied me for a second before opening his arms, and I walked into them. It was his way of letting me know that he was a friend, that he was there, that it was okay.

"He's crying." I said, and my tongue felt numb. My voice, muffled in his Quidditch sweater, sounded dumbfounded and incredulous, like I couldn't believe what I was saying. "He's just sitting there and _crying_." I let go of George and buried my face in my hands, taking deep heaving breaths to stop the tears.

"He'll be fine." he said, clasping my shoulder briefly before expertly scaling the tree. I walked back to the castle in silence.

Katie was waiting for me at the doors to the Entrance Hall, looking at me with a mixture of pity and bracing encouragement.

"C'mon." she said briskly, linking arms with me. I reluctantly let her lead me up the stairs, into the common room, and up into our dorm, where Angelina waited with a sour expression directed out the window arms crossed.

"What?" I asked, my voice still slightly hoarse from the tears. She whipped around to look at me and sighed, uncrossing her arms and letting them fall helplessly to her side.

"They've banned all three of them." she said miserably. "Fred didn't even _do_ anything, and all three of them were provoked, but _still_, that horrible ghoul of a woman's banned them for _life_. George knows already, that's why he went to find Fred." The words took a minute to register in my brain. When they did, I felt like slapping Umbridge in the face, but instead I addressed the situation with the most logical response I could.

"Kirke." I said, and she looked at me as if concerned for my sanity. "He's not great, but he can play." Andrew Kirke was a sixth year who'd wanted to try out for Beater at the beginning of the year, but he wasn't the best of players and didn't hold a candle to either Fred or George. "And Sloper. They're the best we can do." she was still looking at me like she was waiting for me to spontaneously combust. "And Fred's said that Ginny can play Seeker." Some part of me wanted to just sit down and cry, but someone had to do something about it. "Angie, come on. The match against Hufflepuff is coming up, and it's either we disqualify ourselves from the Cup, or we grab who we can. Let's hold tryouts, at least."

She collapsed onto her bed and leant against the headboard, sighing. "I guess we could give it a shot. Is Fred alright?" she asked, and for the first time I felt an involuntary stab of jealousy. She wasn't saying it the way a friend would.

"He's fine." I said, trying to hide the curtness in my voice.

"Is he at the tree?" she asked, looking genuinely concerned, and my chest tightened.

"Yes." I said, narrowing my eyes slightly.

"We used to go there a lot, to talk, and stuff...back when...you know..." she trailed off, looking embarrassed.

"No, I don't." I said, nonplussed. She looked completely taken aback.

"He didn't tell you?" she asked lightly. I shook my head, annoyed at being kept in the dark. "Fred and I were...well, we were..together. For a year or two." I stumbled backwards in surprise, nearly hitting my head on my bedpost.

"You _what_?" I asked, my voice a lot louder than it had been a second ago. She looked guilty and defiant at the same time.

"We were together." she said more confidently. "For fifth and half of sixth year."

"Angie, maybe-" Katie interrupted, but I stopped her.

"No, it's alright. Doesn't matter anyway." I said, more calmly than I felt. I attempted a smile, but somehow I doubted it would be sincere - possibly because I was glaring daggers at Angelina. I stiffly walked out of the dorm, trying to ignore the sudden overflow of emotions coursing through me. I couldn't even talk to Fred - he'd just been kicked off the Quidditch team and it was obvious that what Malfoy had said had affected him. And it didn't matter. It didn't matter at all. _Merlin_, I was being an idiot. I settled in a red loveseat by the fire, lying down and staring into the flames.

When Fred and George walked in an hour later, I acted like I didn't notice. After clasping his brother on the back, Fred came walking towards me, and I shut my eyes tight.

"You can stop pretending to be asleep, you know." his breath tickled my nose. His voice was hoarse, like he'd been talking a long time. I kept my eyes shut, but the corners of my mouth lifted slightly. "Don't feel like talking?" he inquired, and I didn't reply. He turned sideways and gave me a gentle kiss. "Apparently I'm kicked off the team." he said it so matter-of-factly that it made me want to throw my arms around him right there. But I remained still, breathing deeply through my nose. "I got a bit angry at that." I could sense that he was crouching just in front of my face, facing me and leaning slightly against the table. "What about you?" he asked, all this spoken in a feather-light voice that wasn't heard by anyone but me. My eyes stayed closed, but my horrible mouth decided to open.

"Angelina asked if you were okay." I said as calmly as I could. There was no response but silence. "She asked if you were at _the tree_. She said that you two went there a lot. To _talk_ _and stuff_." I wanted to jinx my mouth off of my face, but it kept talking. "She was worried about you. You should probably _talk_ to her." Still no reply. Slowly, I opened my eyes, to find him looking at me, his expression neutral.

"What d'you want me to do, get down on one knee and declare my love for you, and only you?" he asked coldly. It hurt.

"No." my voice shook tremulously. "I was just telling you what she said."

"Yeah, and implying a whole lot of other things." he said quietly but angrily.

"Implying the truth." I countered, still staring him straight in the face.

"I ended it!" he said suddenly, before looking away from me and sighing. "I ended it." he repeated. "I ended it in the middle of last year because it wasn't working out, and I'm over it and I'm sure she is too, otherwise she wouldn't be with George right now." he looked back at me almost haughtily. "And I'm not going to _apologize_, if that's what you want." I sat up slowly, tucking my legs in so that he could join me on the couch, which he did. My head rested on his neck.

"I don't know _what_ I want, but it's not that." I said tiredly. "I'm not going to make you do something you don't want to do, and honestly, you've probably dated half the girls in school. You'd be apologizing every two seconds." I cracked an uneasy smile, and he did too, all tension broken.

"Half?" he asked in mock surprise. "That's all you credit me for? Really, Roxy, I thought I looked like more to you."

"Three quarters, then." I said, leaning close to him so that our noses were touching. His expression softened slightly.

"I guess it wouldn't feel complete enough without you getting jealous every three minutes, now, would it?" he teased. I pecked him softly on the lips, and for the first time that day, he responded.

"_Me?_" I said, coming up for air and dropping my head into the crook of his neck again. "Does the name _Ryan_ ring a bell, _Freddie_?" I got a dig in the ribs for that. "Ow!"

"You were asking for it." he said smarmily. George called from the other side of the room and we both stood up to walk over to him. He was huddled in a corner with Lee, cupping something with his hands.

"We just got a new shipment." he murmured, grinning widely. He glanced at me suspiciously for a moment, but I gave him the stink-eye until he uncovered his hands. In them lay several lumps of what looked like sparkly bluish black lumps of coal. I was skeptical, but Fred drew in a breath, reaching for one gingerly. He passed it to me, and after a thorough inspection, I was as wowed as the rest of them.

"It's _real_." I whispered, and George looked at me incredulously.

"You _know_ what it is?" he asked, eyebrows raised, and I shot him a glare, tossing the lump back at him.

"Durmstrang." I said shortly. "It's the worst when you're on a staircase." I held my wrist out to point at a scar on the back of my hand. "The stairs there aren't really blunt-edged." I said with a wry grin. "And that's higher quality than usual. Genuine Peruvian." There was grudging admiration in my voice as I inclined my head towards George. He grinned again.

"What's low quality?" he asked interestedly, and I wrinkled my nose.

"Bulgarian imitations. Isn't reliable. Sometimes it gets dark...other times it just smells horrid...I was there once when the rock just exploded. Had to regrow my eyebrows by wand." My mouth curved up in a little half-smile. "But this is genuine, so you won't have to worry about that." George clapped me on the shoulder.

"Looks like we've found ourselves an authenticator." he said, smirking. I punched him in the arm playfully, still grinning. "No, really. We should get you a badge or something."

"Oh, shut up." I said derisively, but he looked serious, so I nodded. "Alright, then. I'm going to turn in, it's already ten." I decided, standing up, and they all murmured their goodnights. After a moments' hesitation, I bent down to give Fred a kiss on the cheek. He smiled, his ears faintly pink as George rolled his eyes, and I walked away contentedly.

"Roxy!" Angie yelped as I opened the dorm door and bumped the door straight into her.

"Sorry." I said genuinely, checking her head for signs of a bruise. "Ooh, that's going to leave a mark. I tentatively raised my hand to feel the bump, and the corners of her mouth lifted up in a guilty smile.

"You're not mad at me, then?" she asked softly. I smiled brightly.

"Mad at you for what? It's over and done with and that's fine, and it was about time that I'd gotten jealous over something _he'd_ done." I sidestepped her and walked into the dorm, giving her another smile over my shoulder. "Hey, Kate." I said sleepily as I unbuttoned my shirt and reached for my nightgown.

"Hey." her voice was weak and it sent alarm bells ringing, so my head whipped around, but she was fine, just lying down in bed. At my expression, she smiled weakly, yawning. "I'm fine, Roxy. Get to bed so you can dream about your wonderful boyfriend." I threw a pillow at her and she caught it, mumbling a sleepy thank you. I crawled under my covers and sighed, going to sleep almost immediately.

_**~"First there's lights out, then there's lock up, masterpieces serving maximum sentences."~**_

"Honestly, how long can you sleep?" Katie's annoyed voice came from somewhere above me, and then a soft projectile hit me in the face. I groaned sleepily, and pushed the pillow away. "_Get up, birthday girl_!" she said loudly, throwing another pillow. My ears perked up at that. _Birthday girl? How had they known_? It was two days after the Quidditch match, and therefore it was the ninth of November, and therefore...I opened my eyes blearily to find Kate and Angie looking down at me with sly faces. Bolting upright and with my head narrowly missing the headboard, I looked at them suspiciously.

"How'd you know?" I asked almost angrily. Kate rolled her eyes.

"Your wonderful husband-to-be, of course." she said, tossing me a gift-wrapped book, I smiled at her, blushing at the thought of Fred's thoughtfulness and not bothering to respond to her quip. Unwrapping of the gaudy paper that seemed to be leftovers from last Christmas revealed an equally gaudy tome, titled _How To Charm _Your_ Prince_, by _Loretta Lovelace_. "Everything you need to know." she announced proudly, and I tried not to laugh at the cover, which showed a swooning wizard, tacky red hearts floating above him.

"Thanks, Katie." I managed, tucking the book securely into my trunk. Angelina handed me hers next, revealed to be a Harpies jersey. I squealed appreciatively and hugged it to my chest, folding it carefully and hanging it up in my closet. While I was fumbling with the hanger, she came up to me.

"I'm sorry." she said softly. I turned to her, puzzled. "For yesterday, I...I shouldn't have brought it up." I rolled my eyes and gave her a spontaneous hug, and she took a while to reciprocate.

"Shut. Up." I said, smiling slightly as I hung up the jersey. "I was going to find out sooner or later, and if it wasn't from you, I'd get mad at you for _not_ telling me. So give - it - a - rest." I said, tapping her between the eyes after every word. She broke into a rare smile, a genuine one.

"C'mon, then." she said, digging me in the ribs. "Go have a shower so we can go down to breakfast already."

Fifteen minutes later, we were at the Hall. I took my customary place next to Fred, where he greeted me with a smile and a kiss. "Hey." I said, blushing furiously.

"Right, then," George said snarkily. "Before you two decide to get married at the table, here you go." and he handed me his present - a vaguely rectangular cuboid shape. I narrowed my eyes at him suspiciously before cautiously undoing the bow, revealing...a toaster.

"Oh, _George_!" I squealed happily. "Is it a Muggle one?" like , who I hadn't met yet but heard lots about, I was nothing short of obsessed with Muggle items. He laughed somewhat teasingly.

"Yeah, I got it from dad. Newest Muggle model there is." he smiled, and I clutched the toaster to myself gratefully. I got a box of Chocolate Frogs from Lee and a bag of Bertie Botts from Hermione - "It's from Harry and Ron too, I promise." she said solemnly - but the best gift of all was given when Fred and I were walking to Herbology. He stopped me in front of Greenhouse 4 and pulled something out of his bag. And then I fell in love with him all over again.

* * *

**A/N: Yay, I'm back from the dead! Sorry about that, Writer's block strikes just when you least need it. :) Hope you like this chapter. As always, let me know what you think! Constructive criticism is welcomed as well, and I'll make sure to answer any questions you guys have. Reviews are Doritos and Guacamole. **

**:)**

**-K**

**Song Credits - I've Got This Friend by The Civil Wars, You Could Be Happy by Snow Patrol, All The Rowboats by Regina Spektor.**


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